Saving Grace
by sweet-and-simple
Summary: Outside of his window in the distant sky, a spark of indigo flashed. The spark became a dot and the dot became a bulge, the bulge was quick to become a flaring mass… heading straight for Tsuna's front door.  'Maek a wIsh, bIg brOther' AU fic
1. The Sky

"I got this, mom!"

"No, Tsuna – !"

"Hiiee!"

The resounding shatter led to a frigid silence.

Tsuna clutched his burned hands together, face pale and caramel eyes wide as he stared at the demolished glassware scattered across the floor. Slowly, his eyes trekked up to his mother's expression; the disappointment and cold disregard there cut his heart. "I-I'm sorry; the water, it was… it was really hot…" He hated how demure his voice sounded, but he couldn't bring himself to speak confidently.

His mother held up a hand, signaling for him to stop with his sputtered reasons. Without a word, she pointed out of the kitchen, demanding he leave her be.

At the door, he heard her tired mutter, "If only my baby was here instead of that good-for-nothing boy…" The clink and clatter of the shards being collected followed.

Tsuna clenched his tingling hands at his sides and ran up the stairs to his room. He slammed the door shut behind him, feeling no relief with the resulting crash.

"The water was hot…" He muttered to himself, seeking comfort from that. "It's not like I _meant_ to drop the dishes…" No, all he had been doing was checking to see if the water in the sink had been the right temperature.

He should have taken note of the steam…

He slid down the length of the door and wrapped his arms around his legs, burying his head between his knees.

"_If only my baby was here instead of that good-for-nothing boy…" _

His shoulders shook.

Three years ago, his baby brother, Lambo, had gone to Italy to see their grandpa, Timoteo; Tsuna had stayed in Japan because he had promised his best friend he would work with him at his father's sushi shop during summer break. A drive-by shooting had assured his brother's arrival back home… in a coffin.

Lambo had only been 5 years old; a small kid with an obsession for cows, food, and the babysitter – who had doubled as Tsuna's tutor – their grandpa had, for some reason, thought necessary to hire for them despite the man's complete hatred for children.

His dad hadn't come home since then and his mom had come to the point of blaming him; after all, if he _had_ gone with his baby brother, maybe _he_ would be dead instead of Lambo.

He snorted; he didn't doubt that his mother would be happier had that been the truth.

He stood shakily to his feet and went to his bed, flopping down face-first.

What he would give for it to stop… If he could, he _would_ have died for Lambo! Even though his baby brother had been annoying and selfish, he had been endearing somehow. He had always been their parent's favorite.

If he could turn back time and take that bullet for Lambo, he wouldn't ask questions; he would just _do_ it. And then it would all be over… He wouldn't have to feel like a leper every time he came home and he wouldn't have to face the pitying/accusing gazes given to him outside of his room.

He looked out the window next to his mattress; the sky was clear and the town was dark. The stars were bright and the moon was close and full.

He remembered the silly little words Lambo had uttered from time to time when he had been too drowsy to jump off the walls or act ignorant.

"Starlight, star bright…" He paused, wondering at his own ludicrous act. He could remember his little brother's grating laughter in the back of his head, strangely comforting as if there was nothing wrong with the world. "First star I see tonight… I wish I may, I wish I might… have this wish I wish tonight…"

He stopped and stared at the sky; now that he had said it, was he to wish for something, knowing it wouldn't come true? His brother had liked to wish for foolish things in a drowsy voice, things like grapes, octopus balls, or for their babysitter to take him certain places.

Sometimes, he had liked to wish that he and Tsuna would always be together.

His heart choked in his chest. He couldn't think of anything to wish for.

He turned onto his side away from the window and shut his eyes, not bothering to change as he pushed his head into his pillow and let himself fall into a troubled sleep.

Outside of his window in the distant sky, a spark of indigo flashed. The spark became a dot and the dot became a bulge, the bulge was quick to become a flaring mass… heading straight for Tsuna's front door.

There was not a sound made as the indigo flames died, nothing of its travel left behind for evidence… except a single package sitting innocently at the front entrance.

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note: And this begins my next multi-chapter work! Please bear with me and point out any mistakes you see (though I beg you to be kind about it), including if any of the characters appear OOC. I already have this story written to a certain point, so updates will appear regularly for awhile. <em>


	2. The Package

**~ II.I ~**

"Damn it!" Tsuna ran down the stairs, his schoolbag hanging loosely from his shoulders and his clothes in disarray; his hair – already an untamed brunette mass – was now also a nest of bed hair. There were slight bags under his bloodshot eyes.

He somehow managed to put his right shoe on the left foot and his left shoe vice versa as he went to quickly run out the door. He cursed again as he moved to fix it and then debated against it; after all, he was _late_!

Namimori high school was 15 minutes away and there he was, only 6 minutes till the morning bell was supposed to go off! He should have seen this coming… his alarm clock hadn't gone off and his mother didn't care to wake him up for school.

He galloped out the front door, a complete wreck.

And, within a split second, he became a complete wreck sprawled across the concrete walkway leading out of his front yard. His palms bled and his cheek stung numbly as he gripped his throbbing knee and hissed in pain. He cut a glare at the culprit for his fall.

A package rested guilelessly in front of his house, wrapped in brown paper with no return or mailing address on it.

His anger turned to curiosity. Quickly, his curiosity turned to terror. _Only 3 minutes left!_ He left the package for his mom to pick up; after all, she most likely would just throw it away if he brought it to her.

Almost 12 minutes later, he ran through the front gates of his school. Who was the first person he saw?

"H-H-Hibari!" Tsuna cowered from the disciplinary figure. Kyoya Hibari, preferring the name Hibari, was the brutal and unbending prefect of Namimori High; anyone who broke school rules was 'bitten to death', as the committee president would like to say right before beating someone till they were unconscious.

He tried to think up a good excuse as to why he was late (aside from the fact that he had slept in because that just never worked on the other teen), and came up with nothing. "U-Uumm…" He gulped as Hibari's eyes narrowed dangerously on him, a predator catching the scent of his prey.

"Tsunayoshi Sawada…" He pointed at something behind him. "Leave your mail at home."

Had it been possible, he would have collapsed from relief; okay, so Hibari might just let him get to class without sending him to the nurse's first!

And then his words caught up with him; _mail_?

Sticking out of his school bag was the package.

"Hiiiieee! W-what – how'd that get in there?" His voice was shrill with disbelief. Hadn't he left it at home?

Hibari took out his infamous tonfas, the steel rods glinting in the sun. "Tsunayoshi Sawada… You're late for school."

Apparently, he would be visiting the nurse's anyway.

"Mah, mah; so this thing just showed up in your school bag?" Yamamoto – the star baseball player of Namimori with beige skin, copper eyes, and jet black hair, his frame tall and lithe – had the package in his inquisitive hands, eyes curious as he turned the box this way and that.

Tsuna, a few bandages more, nodded. "I left it at home, I know I did! But when I got to school, it was just… there." His eyes went to Gokudera, his other best friend.

Gokudera had silver hair, eyes that changed from a glow-in-the-dark green to a smoky grey depending on his mood, pale alabaster skin, and a bad-ass attitude. At the moment, however, he was… sulking.

Ever since what had happened three years ago (his baby brother dying), Gokudera had taken it upon himself to suddenly stop being a jackass to him (he had believed Tsuna to be a weakling unfit for life) and protect him to the best of his abilities, following him around like a puppy with its tail up in the air.

So it was understandable that Gokudera was depressed at the moment; after all, Tsuna was _literally_ a walking bruise, what with having said his hellos to the earth before saying his hellos to Hibari's tonfas. Gokudera was most likely blaming himself for not being able to protect him…

"Hah hah!" Yamamoto quirked an eyebrow at the mail. "How weird…"

Tsuna sighed. "I know."

"Well!" Yamamoto outstretched the package to him. "You wanna open it?"

"Idiot!" Gokudera flew out of his corner of depression straight at Yamamoto's head with a clenched fist. "What if there's something dangerous inside of it? What if someone is trying to hurt the Tenth!" He growled at the baseball star.

'Tenth' was a nickname Gokudera had developed for him; something to do with '10' being his favorite number and Tsuna being his _favorite_ person… This was from a person who had named his temperamental, strangely homicidal cat _Melon_; Tsuna had long since stopped trying to find reason in Gokudera's name-giving abilities.

"I'll open it for you, Tenth!" Gokudera snatched the package from Yamamoto's outstretched arms, dragged in a deep breath while holding himself tensely as if he honestly believed the box would in someway harm him, and then tore it open. "… Eh?"

They all stared at the box's contents: a note and what appeared to be a _seed_… Like a _plant_ seed.

"What the hell?" Gokudera went on to curse as he lifted the note and flipped it open; his expression only twisted in more confusion. "What the fuck language is this?"

"Lemme see…" Yamamoto peeked over the silverette's shoulder. His eyebrows drew together in uncertainty. "Mah, mah… It looks like something an alien would write!" He scratched the back of his head.

Tsuna wasn't paying attention to them, however; the seed held his full and horrified attention. Was it just him, or was the seed turning color? At first a light tan, it appeared to turn a pale indigo shade.

"Tenth?" Gokudera waved a hand in his face, looking worried. "Hey, Tenth, are you alright?" He looked from him to the seed.

It was light tan.

Tsuna shook his head and turned his attention to his friends. Yamamoto held the note, turning the paper this way and that. At one point, he began rubbing the paper. "Hah! Even the paper feels weird…" He smiled, as if he much enjoyed the texture of the sheet. "It feels like downy feathers…"

"Idiot!" Gokudera growled. "Paper doesn't feel like feathers!" As if to prove his point, he grabbed the parchment back and rubbed it. His anger dissipated, turning into shock. "Holy shit…"

Yamamoto laughed. "_See_? It feels soft, right?" He took it from Gokudera and handed it to Tsuna. "Feel it!"

Tsuna, eyeballing the seed cautiously, absentmindedly petted the paper. His attention was torn from the unborn flower to the parchment, surprised that Yamamoto was right – it felt _exactly_ like downy feathers… but it looked like normal paper to him.

Next to catch his attention was the writing. He frowned; Gokudera and Yamamoto had acted as if it was a completely different language, but it was perfectly eligible to him.

_White Lotus Stamen_

Stamen? Well, he had heard of white lotuses… but _stamen_? He pondered the word for a long moment, trying to think of what it meant. Vaguely, he remembered his science teacher talking to them about plants the other day, but only just – he never really paid attention in that class.

"_The pistil is the ovary of the flower while the stamen is the male reproductive organ" _or something like that…

He kept reading.

_* Place the seed in warm water._

_* Change the water every day until the seed sprouts. Make sure that the seed remains in a sunny place._

_* Once the roots emerge, feed the seed with one droplet of blood everyday –_

_WHAT?_

He gaped at the direction; there was _no way _lotuses were grown like that! _Blood_? Was there some typo in the notes?

_* When the roots resemble hands, the seed is ready to crack open; remove the seed from the warm water and place beneath your pillow; preferably, place it right beneath where you rest your head as you sleep so the seed may draw energy from your dreams –_

There was… no way. Just… _no way_.

"Tenth?" Gokudera looked freaked out. "Are you okay, Tenth?" He tore the note away from him, as if he suspected it to have caused Tsuna's horrified and pale expression. "Don't worry! I'll take care of this! You'll never have to see it again, I promise!" He didn't even give Tsuna time to reply as he grabbed the box and crumbled the note, throwing it back into the package. He ran off the school rooftop and then emerged out the front entrance far below; he kept running until he was far from sight.

Yamamoto and Tsuna watched in silence…

"Hah hah!" Yamamoto was the first to break the hush. "Gokudera can really run!"

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note: Yes, it starts out slow… <em>


	3. The Signature

**~ III. ~**

He woke up the next morning, three hours before his alarm was meant to go off; but, alas, his alarm being _broken_, it somehow decided that three hours early was _functional_.

He groaned as he threw the clock across the room and then settled back into his bed. As he turned over, his face hit something… something hard and yet feathery.

His eyelids fluttered open to gaze at the foreign object in sleepy subjection. "HIIIIEEE!" He fell off the side of the bed, surprise ripping a scream from him and widening his previously tired eyes.

There in the bed next to him was the package; now, however, it had some wet spots on it as well as what looked like a few burn marks. Lying on top of it was the note, its previous creamy white form charred a burnt yellow and brown.

With a trembling hand, he lifted the note to eye level.

_*When the seed shell falls off to reveal a mass of roots, place in a container full of notes handwritten by you, preferably love notes or educational preferences._

Oh god… it wasn't over, Tsuna realized with a gaping jaw.

_* Fill the container with at least 2 inches of water and keep water level at such; a little more or less is acceptable. Keep in a sunny place._

_* When the lotus roots break out of the container and begin spreading across the surface it rests on, do not be frightened; the lotus is ready to mature. When this happens, remove the lotus from the sun and place in a pitch black area._

_* Leave the lotus to itself until you hear it calling your name._

The lotus would be calling his name? He didn't even _want_ to think about that!

* _How you raise and care for him is your choice._

The direction ended there.

Wait, no… He squinted his eyes at the last few words smudged by the fire. It looked like a child's handwriting; difficult to read with thickly written letters and misspelled terms…

_Maek a wIsh, bIg brOther! _

His heart clenched in his chest and the letter therefore crumbled in his fisted hand. _Lambo_…

He looked from the tattered note to the box. He gulped as he looked inside of it; there laid, in all innocence, the single lotus seed… that would require his blood, his words, and his dreams to grow.

He looked back at the letter; was it a sign that heaven _did_ exist? Was his little brother trying to tell him something?

… Should he grow the lotus?

He swallowed thickly; well, there was only one way to find out.

A half hour later, he held the smooth seed over a cup of warm water; indeed, the seed's shell was indigo, and it seemed to become a darker shade of indigo the more he stared at it. His hand shook from being suspended for so long; but he couldn't make up his mind! Was he really going to follow such demented directions to grow a _flower_ that was supposedly going to talk to him just because of a letter that _might_ have been written by his dead brother?

He pondered it for a very long moment, said moment stretching over 15 minutes. When the end of that time came, he arrived at a decision: yes. Yes, he was.

He dropped the seed into the water. With the small 'plunk' that came from the resulting splash, he almost felt as if his fate had been sealed. Was he making a big mistake?

He looked back at the note, the childish little demand.

Maybe; but was he going to _regret_ it? Who knew? He would just have to wait and find out.

He stared at the seed until his eyelids began to droop, stinging tiredly. If this was a bad idea, at least it had been an easy one to follow through… after all, didn't it take seeds a long time to grow roots?

With all said and done, he crawled right back into bed, planning to get at least 2 hours more of rest… only to catch a glimpse of his watch – that had sat innocently next to his alarm clock before the latter's untimely demise – and the time.

_How long had he stared at that damn seed? _

"I'm late!"


	4. The Blood

**~IV.I~**

"Hibari beat you up pretty hard this time!" Yamamoto lightly pointed out, staring at Tsuna's swollen and bruised body.

"That fucking bastard!" Gokudera went off on a blue streak. "I'm gonna stick his head right up his ass for hurting you, Tenth!"

Looking at the silverette, Tsuna could care less for how Gokudera planned to take care of Hibari; there was a more pressing question he had.

"Gokudera…" He began hesitantly; after all, how did one ask 'hey, did you really get rid of the package? 'Cause I woke up this morning and it was right _there_.' It just couldn't be done…

"Yes, Tenth?" Gokudera turned to him, whipping out a liquid ice pack and placing it gently to Tsuna's one swollen cheek – _like a mother_; the very mother he no longer had. "What is it?" He looked so earnest.

Tsuna stole a deep breath and took a jab at it. "T-the package that I had yesterday… Uumm… What exactly did you… umm… do… with it?" He looked inquisitively up at his friend.

Gokudera grinned proudly. "Ah! That nuisance! I burned it till there were only ashes, Tenth! I watched it until the fire went out!" That would explain the bags under his bloodshot eyes, Tsuna realized. "And then I took the ashes threw them in the creek!"

"Mah mah, Gokudera; don't you think that was going a little overboard just to get rid of a box with only a seed and a note inside of it?" Yamamoto pondered.

"Idiot! Didn't you _see_ how much that 'box' upset the Tenth? It deserved what it got!"

Tsuna tuned out their argument; Gokudera would never lie to him… not in a _million_ years unless it was something regarding his own life that he didn't want them concerned about. So he wouldn't lie about burning the box to a crisp and then throwing the ashes in a creek… However, if that was so, than how had that very box ended up on his bed?

There was something not right about this… well, aside from the propagation technique for the lotus, but he had already figured out that much…

"Do either of you to know how to grow a lotus flower?" He enquired softly into their he-man war.

Gokudera paused with his fist raised up as if he planned to strike Yamamoto down. Yamamoto looked over at Tsuna, dropping his 'I'm innocent' act to cock his head curiously at him.

"I do not, Tenth." Gokudera admitted, a flame igniting in his spring green eyes. "But I'll find out for you!" With that said, he ran off the roof back into the building.

Yamamoto watched him leave before laughing softly at his friend's energy. And then he turned his probing gaze onto Tsuna. "Why would you want to know, Tsuna?" He questioned in an airy tone.

Tsuna shifted uncomfortably. "Uuuh… Well, I'm, uuuhh… growing one…?" Well, it was _true_… At least. But could he have made it sound any more awkward?

Yamamoto grinned. "Hah hah! That's neat! Are you growing it from a seed?"

Tsuna nodded, not quite sure why that mattered.

"Alright, so here's what you do." Yamamoto sat up straight. "So you soak it in water first, like ssssshhhh~" He made vague motions like falling water. "And when the seed cracks open" here a gesture of something breaking apart "to reveal roots," a show of roots wiggling using his fingers "you put the seed in a nice, moist soil and then put two inches of water over it, like ssssshhh~" again, the watering motion. "Oh! And you always have to keep it in a sunny place!" He mimicked a smiling sun.

Tsuna was… well, amazed. He blinked. "Umm… Yamamoto?"

"Yeah?"

"How do you know that?" And why did he have to act out his words?

A soft, sad smile overcame the baseball player's face. "My mom loved them…" There was a heavy, yet content silence; they both knew what it was like to lose a loved one.

Yamamoto was the first to shake out of his thoughts. "Yeah, but it's pretty sad too."

"Huh?"

"Lotuses stay dormant for a year before blooming."

"A-A _year_?"

"Yep! And then it only lives for about 5, 6 years."

Tsuna's heart sank into his belly and rested there on a nest of quivering nerves.

His brother's scribbled words gave him a headache: _Maek a wIsh, bIg brOther!_

Why did he suddenly feel so hopeless?

Yamamoto was watching him, as if waiting for something.

"Uuhh… Thanks, Yamamoto." The other teen broke out into a proud grin. "Ah, I think I'll go home now." When Yamamoto opened his mouth to ask if he was okay, Tsuna quickly waved a hand in dismissal. "My stomach's starting to act up… And I really don't want to have to go the nurse's, so I'll just sneak out while everyone's switching classes."

Yamamoto frowned but then smiled. "Gotcha! Well, good luck! And don't worry about Hibari; I'll distract him." Yamamoto winked at him as he stood up off the cement floor and made his way back into school.

The bell went off and lunch was officially over.

**() ()**

His mother wasn't home when he got there. Then again, she could have been; but he didn't call out for her and she didn't welcome him home, so he couldn't be certain.

Frankly, he had gotten used to not being certain if he was alone or not; sometimes it was nice to pretend that there was someone else in the house with him and other times it made him glad to know he was alone. Maybe his mom felt the same way; he liked to think that she did.

It was better than thinking that she ignored his existence whenever she was given the chance.

He went silently to his room, holding his groan of the day's wearies until he had his door shut safely behind him.

Yamamoto had managed to do as he had said and had (somehow) distracted Hibari, meaning that Tsuna had gotten to leave the building with no more bruises than what he had received by entering it.

He threw his schoolbag down on the floor next to his bed and then tossed himself into the mass of pillows and blankets. He was _so_ tired…

Ah, but that purple color was keeping him awake, now that he was finally in bed – _wait_…

He peeked one eye open.

The seed had cracked to reveal a tangle of roots. "What the hell?" He pressed himself to the wall _away_ from the seed, upper lip trembling from the shock.

Did that mean that… he had to give it _blood_ now? But he didn't_ want_ to!

Nonetheless, he looked from the crumbled note at his low writing desk to the seed. _Maek a wIsh, bIg brOther! _

He gulped and tried to find something sharp in the room to cut himself with; _damn_, that was a sad way to put it…

He managed to find a safety pin. Biting his bottom lip, he pricked his finger and watched with a slight wince as a fat drop of blood welled up from his skin.

Turning his head away, he dipped the finger into the water.

When he looked back, stealing his hand away and holding it to his chest, he jerked in surprise. _The water was changing color!_ At first a muddy brown and then it refined itself to a transparent cobalt blue. And even then, the color continued to change until the water became crystal white again. As he watched, he could see the roots absorbing the changes in color until they were the same cobalt blue – if not solid instead of transparent – the water had been before becoming clear.

He gulped and backed away. Was this really what he wanted to do? Did he _really_ want to give his blood to a _plant_?

_Maek a wIsh, bIg brOther! _Yes; yes he did.

What if it cost him his life? It wasn't like his life was _that_ bad! He had his best friends there for him: Gokudera, Yamamoto, Haru, Kyoko, Ryohei, Dino…

_Lambo looked up at him with his huge emerald green eyes, a large grin flashing across his chubby cheeks. "You gotta wish for something when there's a shooting star, big brother!" He pointed at the trail the streak of light had traveled only moments ago. "You gotta!" _

He never had made a wish…

He slapped himself across the face; why was he remembering that? What did _that_ have to do with _this_? There was a plant on his windowsill that drank his _blood_! In only hours, it had created roots! He didn't know much about plants, but he felt pretty confident in the knowledge that plants were _not_ meant to grow that fast! And they most _definitely_ weren't supposed to absorb his _blood_!

He looked at the offending specimen before turning his back on it.

Could it get any weirder?

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Something I forgot to mention… this story was inspired by Katy Perry's 'E.T.'. I was watching the music video, thinking to myself that it was actually pretty awesome except for the fact that most people still don't believe in aliens (hey, I'm a believer. You don't honestly think that in this huge, freaking galaxy that we're the only things living, do you? If you do, take an astrology class, please) and so the song didn't make much sense. Sooo~ I thought to myself 'well, I'll make it make sense!'<p> 


	5. The Boy

**~V.~**

Five months passed by without any new happenings; Gokudera continued to be mean to everyone but him, Yamamoto continued to be a star baseball player, the boxing team was _extreme_ as usual, and the girls still liked to drag him out for cakes every once in a while.

Even Dino had come for a short get-together before returning to Italy after only a few hours.

Really, it had been uneventful; even the beatings he received from Hibari had felt repeated, as if he had been falling into a rut.

But, no more!

After the initial reaction of the seed, Tsuna had thought that the lotus would continue to grow at an unusual rate; instead, it had seemed to stop growing altogether.

That was, until Tsuna had walked into his bedroom after school that day.

The roots looked freakishly like hands; the roots were knotted, fashioning palms – and from the 'palms' were five lone roots to each mass (and, yes, two of the hand-lookalikes), differentiating in thickness and length much like human hands.

He jerked away from the cup, eyes widening; had they just _moved_?

He gritted his teeth and forced himself to reach into the cup, withdrawing the seed and then placing it delicately beneath his pillow. By accident, his finger brushed one of the 'hands'.

"HHHHIIIIEEE!" The eerie mass of roots twined around his fingertip, an inescapable grasp that made him collapse onto the floor behind him. Quickly, shock turned to pain. The roots were _burrowing_ into his _skin_! "S-stop!" He grabbed it by the seed shell and pulled; surprisingly, there was no fight put up against him.

He ripped the roots off of his finger and threw the seed beneath his pillow again, shuddering as he turned away from his bed.

He looked at the damage; it wasn't _too_ bad… but it hurt like a _bitch_! He grimaced and went into the bathroom, cleaning the wound off and then stepping into the shower.

When he came back out, he went to do his homework, despite not understanding at all how to do it. After a half hour of fruitless attempts, he threw the book back in his schoolbag and played his video games. He tried his hardest not to think about what rested beneath his pillow.

Close to midnight, he got ready for bed.

Standing at the foot of his mattress, he wasn't completely sure if he wanted to get _into_ bed. After all, what if he woke up and the 'hands' were digging into his face? Not a very comforting thought.

Nonetheless, he forced himself into bed. He was careful, however, to not reach beneath his pillow to cuddle down like he usually did.

He thought he wouldn't catch a wink of sleep that night.

He shifted around in his bed, trying to think of a more comfortable position while being perfectly aware of what lie beneath his pillow. He sighed as he ultimately failed, feeling just too awkward to succeed. He turned his head towards the window, hoping to catch sight of _something_ to relieve his boredom.

"HIIIIEEE!" Why was there a _boy_ on his _windowsill_? "Who the hell are you?" He yelped as he twisted around in his blankets, ultimately knotting them around his legs so that he fell painfully off the side of the bed and onto his back, slapping his skull against the ground with a long, pained groan. "Ow – ow – ow…" He rubbed the abused flesh tenderly.

The boy in the window stared at him, moonlight gleaming off his iris blue hair and his cold little grin shadowed; his eyes were duo-colored, one scarlet red and the other cobalt blue – both of them were focused on Tsuna with emotionless regard, as if the boy could see _through_ him to the bugs that infested the earth and was subtly disgusted by it. And, yet, for such a cold little child, he wore a startling white robe that appeared bigger than he was, fluffing around his shoulders and pooling around him to even lavish the floor.

Tsuna noted that he couldn't have been any older than 10; maybe even younger, but certainly not older. How could a child look so… so… _evil_? He gulped nervously.

"Who the hell am I?" The boy repeated with a mocking purr. "Why do you care?"

"F-for one… You're in _my_ room!" Tsuna somehow managed to squeal.

The boy looked around him with disinterest. "So?"

"… _You're _in _my_ room!" Tsuna waited to see if the kid could make the connection. When the boy offered no apparent recognition, he whined in frustration. "What are you doing in my room?"

"I live here." The boy simply stated, as if it was the most obvious thing; he even gave Tsuna a narrow one-over, as if he believed he should have already known that. "_You_ let me live here." His smirk curled a little more dangerously and he gazed at Tsuna as if he offered sadistic amusement. "Kufufufu~ you should already know this, Tsunayoshi. After all, you're the one giving me life."

As Tsuna watched with horror and awe, the boy _changed_. Veins of sickly purple travelled across his skin, his flesh splotching the same shade. His hair began to fall out and the robes fell away to reveal a mass of roots shaped into a human body.

"Are you going to let me die, now that you know the truth?" The plant-boy went on to murmur as his head popped off his body and was lifted towards the moon by a long, curling stem that arose from his neck.

And, before he could scream, he woke up.


	6. The Acceptance

**~VI.I~**

"Tenth! Did you get any sleep last night?" Gokudera was worrying over him; more specifically, he was worrying over his face, which was pale from exhaustion with dark bags beneath his dull eyes.

"Mah mah, it looks like you haven't slept in ages, Tsuna!" Yamamoto laughed it off, such as he usually did. "Ah, but we just saw you yesterday and you weren't this bad…"

"Idiot!" Gokudera barked, hitting the baseball player over the head. "Stay out of it!" He swung back to Tsuna. "Is your mother bothering you? Do you want to stay over at my house tonight? Do you want to skip school today? Do you want me to take you to the nurse's office – no, that wouldn't work!" He went on to mutter to himself. "That useless pervert would most likely be there and then he'd just send you back to class…" His stormy green eyes were completely focused on his thoughts.

Tsuna tried to smile and wave off the concern, but the overall affect was ruined by a barely-stifled yawn. "I-I'm okay…" He managed to utter around his jaw stretching wide. "I – uuuhhh – was up all night doing… homework…?" He grinned sheepishly.

Yamamoto tilted his head curiously, but then chuckled. "Hah hah! Yeah, I thought the assignment was pretty hard too! We should study together later at my old man's place!"

Gokudera leaped from his own thoughts back into the conversation. "I agree, Tenth! As much as I hate to do so with the freak of all people, but his dad cooks good food and we will be able to think better on full stomachs!"

"Hah hah! Thanks, Gokudera." Yamamoto completely overlooked the insult in Gokudera's words and clung onto the compliments.

Tsuna smiled and nodded in agreement.

They never went over to his house anymore; he and Yamamoto used to before _that_, but never since then. Gokudera had occasionally walked him home afterwards, but Tsuna had eventually managed to get him to wait for him at school. He hated how his mother looked at his friends, as if he didn't deserve to have them. And his friends had come to learn that his mother would use low-handed tricks to try and guilt-trip them to stop being with him.

It was why, three years later, people still remembered him as the guy who had killed his baby brother just by not being there to take the bullet for him. It was as simple and as cruel as that.

"So, we're following me home after school?" Yamamoto enquired. Gokudera lived by himself and Tsuna's mom didn't care, so neither of them actually had to go to their houses first for permission.

"Idiot!" Gokudera growled. "What if the Tenth wants to go _now_? Can't you see how drained he is?"

"Yeah, but my old man is home right now, so if we go, he'll catch us…" Yamamoto trailed off; his father cared for his education, unlike their own parents.

There was an _almost_ awkward silence.

"Then we'll go to my place first." Gokudera snorted. "What do you say, Tenth?"

He didn't give it much thought – the boy with the body made of roots haunted him – before nodding wordlessly again.

"Great!" Gokudera looked inanely proud.

"Alright! We're going to Gokudera's now, hah hah!" Yamamoto stood to his feet.

Gokudera glared at him, as if to wordlessly debate that. "Who said _you_ were welcome?"

"Well, you said 'we' – "

"I meant the Tenth and me!" The silverette grabbed Tsuna's arm and pulled him carefully to his feet, leading him off the rooftop. "_You_ can head back to class!"

"Aaaw, but, Gokudera… class isn't fun without you guys there!"

"No!"

"Please?"

"No!"

"Pretty please?"

"NO!"

"What if I do that thing you like with my tongue – "

"SHUT! _Up_!" Gokudera hissed, a flare of red covering his cheeks.

Tsuna jerked unceremoniously back into reality; was he missing something?

Gokudera smashed his fist into Yamamoto's face, causing the taller male to collapse backwards as he clutched his abused nose. "Fine!" Gokudera _then_ growled. "You can come!"

Despite having a nose spurting blood, Yamamoto grinned happily. "Hah hah!" His voice was nasally. "Let-d-s go!"

**() 0 ()**

He had a good time.

At first, they drank soda at Gokudera's place, talking about nothing in particular. Gokudera didn't have a TV, so they had crowded around on his small bed and eventually just started talking about whatever random thing came to mind (Gokudera was _not_ impressed by Yamamoto's baseball stories, but he _loved_ Tsuna's mumbled, incomplete jokes with the completely failed punch lines).

After school officially ended, they headed to Yamamoto's house and did their homework there. After some studying (Tsuna was left more confused than before, but Yamamoto got the hang of it), they went to the dojo Yamamoto's dad had behind his sushi bar and had taken a few lessons with the bamboo swords.

When all was said and done, each of them a few bruises heavier, they lied down in front of the TV and Tsuyoshi – Yamamoto's dad – brought them up dinner.

Tsuna felt like he was on cloud nine; this had been a great day… he had got to spend time with his two best friends, he hadn't had to hear about his mother's hatred for him, and – best of all – _no roots_.

Gokudera's head was drooping, the silverette on the verge of sleep. He kept jerking awake at the last moment, but he inevitably began to bob his head again to the tune of drowsiness.

On Tsuna's other side, Yamamoto couldn't have appeared any more awake; he chowed down on the food his dad had brought in and stared animatedly at the TV screen. He was, however, quick to get bored with that (he'd much rather be outside than watch what other people were doing), and so resorted to reaching around Tsuna and blowing into the silverette's ear whenever Gokudera shut his eyes.

He was the reason why Gokudera kept jerking awake with a startled snort.

Tsuna kept silent about it – or, at least as quiet as he could be as he snickered with Yamamoto, trying to cover his laughter up with his hands.

Closing in on midnight, Gokudera had fallen asleep with his head on Tsuna's shoulder. Likewise, Yamamoto had his head on Tsuna's other shoulder.

The middle-man shifted somewhat uncomfortably, feeling his butt going numb as he continued to sit on the wooden floor. Otherwise, he was… content.

Lambo had liked to sleep in his lap… back when he had been alive; sure, he had had his own room with his own bed, but he had liked to sneak into his room sometimes and curl up on top of him, sprawled across his belly as he snored. Other times, he acted timid as he waited at Tsuna's door for him to turn on a light so he could quickly scramble into his bed – safe from darkness – and burrow into his side, of course trying to evade a nightmare.

The memories made him smile bitterly. He had always ended up petting Lambo's hair… though that had been difficult to do; the kid had had that _monstrous_ afro… though it had been surprisingly soft to the touch, it had still been of preposterous size, so large that Lambo had preferred to hide his worldly possessions in it.

He felt a tear trickle down his cheek; _damn it_. Why was he crying? _Why_? What had happened three years ago had happened _three years ago_.

But what if he had gone with Lambo? What if he had been with him on that street, at that moment, with him as big brothers were supposed to be with their little brothers? _What if he had been the one shot instead?_

What did thoughts like those accomplish? He sighed tiredly.

_Maek a wIsh, bIg brOther!_

The words brought back the image of the boy made of roots – and, therefore, he remembered the seed beneath his pillow.

He looked from one friend to the other, both breathing deeply and peacefully. Would it hurt to stay the night? After all, the next day was Saturday, so there wasn't any school…

Tsuyoshi peeked in and caught sight of him still awake; he threw him a wide, amused grin before leaving and then returning with a bundle of blankets and pillows. He left wordlessly.

He managed to get into a semi-comfortable position with the pillows before throwing the blankets over them, Yamamoto and Gokudera still considering him their own pillow. He settled down between them, feeling his already heavy eyelids lowering over his gaze. With a blissful sigh, he burrowed himself down to rest.

He wanted desperately to stay that way, he really did… except something was teasing the edge of his perception, rousing his thoughts and riling his being to consciousness. His eyes fluttered reluctantly open, feeling _something_ crawl through him – foreboding? Acknowledgement of danger? Instinct? Whatever it was, it was chilly and heavy and it couldn't be good.

The boy was staring at him with that same cold grin; no, that was a lie… he was _glaring _at him, a trembling smirk on his pale lips as if Tsuna was at blame for something. His mouth opened and closed, but Tsuna couldn't hear a word he said. Was the boy suddenly mute? Was he mocking him?

No, Tsuna's intuition whispered with certainty, he's just too far away.

But that was ridiculous, Tsuna couldn't help but counter; he was standing _right there_… close enough that Tsuna could touch him! To prove such to his subconscious, he reached out his hand and stroked a gentle fingertip over the blinding white robe the boy wore.

Whatever the boy had been saying, he fell into silence. He stared at Tsuna now with shock, possibly because he hadn't expected to be touched.

Tsuna stared up into his eyes as the boy stared down, Tsuna still sitting. He blinked as he realized that the two weights on his shoulders were gone; as a matter of fact… the room in general was gone.

Why was he in his bedroom?

The boy began saying something again, his lips moving now with a harsher twist of his lips, appearing cross.

Despite being able to touch the boy, his intuition prevailed with the whispered knowledge that the child was just too far away. But that didn't make _sense_.

"Can you hear me?" He asked the child.

The boy glared at him, lips pursed. After a moment, he shook his head.

"Hey, if you can't hear me, how do you know what I asked?" He felt a little indignant.

The boy smirked and pointed at his mouth.

"… You can read lips?" The boy nodded. "Waaah… Show-off…" But he laughed anyway. "That's pretty neat…" He tugged on the kid's robe again.

He felt strangely unbothered… sure, there was still that heavy foreboding, but he felt almost as if on a high. There was simply nothing that could bring him down.

The child, again, looked startled.

"Ah hah hah… sorry…" Tsuna sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "I must be making you uncomfortable." His hands slid off of the child and he lied down on his bed. "Oh, yeah… you asked me a question last night, right before I woke up…" Scarlet and cobalt focused on him. "… I don't think I can let you die… you just seem so sad and hurt; I don't think I can hate you just because you look weird… I mean, how much could I have expected after reading how to grow you? Sure, I didn't expect seeing you in my _dreams_, but… well… I don't mind." He nuzzled against his pillow. "It's weird and I couldn't get it out of my head all day – but I don't think I really care. I'll keep growing you… I promise."

The child looked… touched? Shocked? Awed? Whatever he felt, it was there and then gone in his expression. With that cold little smirk decorating his lips, he let the robe fall off again.

There was no blood-curdling mound of roots for a body; only a child.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Yes, Tsuna's feeling completed a full 180 turn.<p> 


	7. The FairyTales

"Why do you always look so sad?" Tsuna tilted his head curiously at the child.

It had been two months since his accepting that the mass of roots beneath his pillow was a boy in his dreams, one that drew from his unconscious energy to grow.

The boy looked from the night sky to Tsuna with an uncaring grin and insulted eyes. "I'm not sad."

"You look sad."

"Why does your mother hate you?"

An awkward silence.

Tsuna was the first to look away, his throat squeezing shut on him. "I-I'm sorry… I guess you don't want to talk about it…" He knew he didn't.

The boy stared down at his hands, appearing miffed despite his smile. "They threw me away."

"Huh?" Tsuna looked back at the boy.

"Your friend told you that lotus flowers only live for six years; I'm different – I've lived six lives."

"Hiiiee?" Tsuna was startled, staring owlishly at the boy.

"Instead of dying, we're reborn. It's a lot like how flowers on this planet go into hibernation. I've already lived six lives, so they threw me away instead of cultivating me again."

_This planet_, as if he was an alien…

"I-If they threw you away, how did you end up here…?"

"Don't sound so scared." The child spat. "I didn't do anything bad! They're the ones who treated me like I was worthless! Life after life, they treated me like I was a monster!"

It was the first time the child had… well, acted like a child. Though Tsuna was a little curious about whom 'they' were.

"H-hey, who are… 'they'?"

The child looked at him as if he were an idiot. "My genus. Where I am from, your genus is responsible for cultivating you; but my genus has hated me for centuries, and so they ignored their duties when I wilted."

Tsuna guessed that his genus was the same as a family. "I'm sorry…" He stared at the bed. "That was… so cruel of them. You should never turn your back on your family – err, genus."

The child blinked at him, caught by surprise perhaps. "… They never sang for me, either."

"Huh?"

"Your world has bedtime stories; where I'm from, we were sung to sleep." The child closed his eyes. "No one liked to sing for me …"

"I'm not a great singer." Tsuna admitted. "But I could read some stories aloud to you." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "It's the best I can do."

The child stared at him.

"Hey, that's right!" Tsuna blinked as he realized something. "If you've lived before, doesn't that mean you already have a name?" It was kind of weird that he had gone two months without asking… Then again, the child was a _plant_.

The child nodded after a small hesitation.

"What is it?"

"… Mukuro… Mukuro Rokudo."

He smiled sweetly for him. "Hi, Mukuro! My name is Tsuna." He outstretched his hand towards Mukuro. "It's nice to meet you."

Slowly, the boy wound his hand into his and let him shake it. His smile lost, just slightly, its perverse edge. "Likewise."

**~ : : : ~**

"Hey, Tsuna!" Yamamoto had his head tilted curiously, reading the title of the book Tsuna had his nose in. "Since when did you read for leisure?"

"Idiot!" Gokudera barked. "Even Tenth can appreciate a good book every once in a while! Unlike _some_ people." He glared pointedly at the baseball player.

"Hah hah! Sorry, but I'd rather get stuck on clean-up duty than read something of my own free will." He admitted shamelessly. "Ah, but why fairytales, Tsuna?"

The brunette was dragged out of the fantasy world he had encased himself in to look up at them both. "Uuhh…" He couldn't tell them that he had promised a plant that he would read stories to him. "Just… reliving my childhood?"

"You read fairytales when you were a kid?" Yamamoto scratched his chin, trying to remember this; after all, he and Tsuna went _way_ back...

"Yeah, I did." That was actually true. "I read a lot of stories when I was kid, because I didn't have any friends. So I'd just get out a story and I'd stay away from everyone else. I wrote a few stories too…" He paused; now that he thought about it, he couldn't remember for the life of him what he had done with those stories. "My teachers said I was really good at it."

"Hah hah! I didn't know that!" Yamamoto ruffled Tsuna's hair. "Maybe you should write a book! I'd like to read it!"

"Bastard!" Gokudera hit Yamamoto's shoulder. "Don't touch the Tenth so familiarly!" He turned happy-puppy-dog eyes onto Tsuna. "If you ever do write a book, let me be the first to read it, please!"

"U-uh, sure, Gokudera…"

"Mah mah, but I wanna read it first…"

"Too bad! Tenth said _I_ could read it first!"

"Hiiiee! Don't fight you two!"

**~ : : : ~**

"And they lived happily ever after… the end." Tsuna clasped the book of collected Japanese storiesshut, pleased with himself as well as slightly awed.

Mukuro had his head in his lap, not quite sleeping but very close to doing so. He peeked his eyes open with the end of the story and looked up at Tsuna. "Another one."

Tsuna rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry, but that was the last story of the book."

"Can you read it again?"

He laughed. "Uh, sure!" He flipped back to the beginning of the story.

Mukuro sighed and pushed his face against his belly. "I lied."

"Huh?"

"When I said I did nothing bad… I lied."

Something cold and hard settled in Tsuna's heart; not only because of how solemn and honest Mukuro sounded, but because of how the child burrowed closer to him – _holding on with all his strength in case he tried to shove him away_, his intuition told him.

Without knowing why, he knew he wouldn't ask _what_ that something bad was.

Hesitantly, he brushed his hand through Mukuro's hair. The child froze and eyed him with his scarlet orb. His hair felt like flower petals… "Will you do anything bad here? With me? Will you hurt me or the people I love?"

A moment went by and then Mukuro looked at him with hard eyes. "If I think they're going to hurt me..." His eyes sidled away. "Yes."

Tsuna appreciated him for not lying – though he was slightly worried. "If they try to hurt you, they'll have to go through me, first." He met Mukuro's shocked gaze. "I don't know what you did that was so bad, but this is a different place and a different time; you can start over here, and I won't hate you for your past. But if you hurt any of my friends… I won't be able to look at you the same way again."

Mukuro stared at him with eyes full of unnamable emotions.

"Now… do you want me to read you more fairy tales?"

"Yes."

"Okay…" He flipped back to the beginning, the story labeled '_The magic Teakettle'_. "There was once a priest who was very fond of drinking tea…"


	8. The Tales

It was when the seed's shell fell off the roots that he realized just how sad his past was.

"Why is it that the only time I seem to write something down is for homework?" He stared at yet another failed assignment, sighing in exasperation. Hell, there weren't even that many papers left in his room either; after all, he never got any good grades, so why bother keeping them around to mock him?

There were some love notes – as embarrassing as that was. But he didn't have it in him to rip them apart, as well as that there weren't that many of them either. They had been from the time he had thought he had loved Kyoko, and though he knew better now, it brought back good memories reading them.

His baby brother had helped him – or had _thought _he was helping him – write most of them. He had believed he had known what a girl liked to hear.

"_Big brother, don't forget to say you'll give her a cookie!" Lambo pointed at the note in Tsuna's hand. "Give her a cookie!" _

He flinched at the memory. _Ouch_; his heart thumped painfully in his chest.

Was there anything else in the room he could tear apart? He dug through his childhood memories, coming across more failed grades and unsent letters.

He was ready to give up by the time he had thrown practically everything in his closet onto his bedroom floor. He was tired and he was annoyed; couldn't he just use some newspaper? Couldn't he? But, no; the directions had said something _he_ had written. The idea of handwriting enough notes to fill a cup when soaked didn't really please him.

Well, maybe if he wrote the words _really_ big…

As he thought about it, he leaned against the wall in his closet, staring up at the empty rackets above the clothesline. He yelped when the wall gave slightly, causing him to jerk backwards. "What the hell?" He spun around; where he had been leaning, a crevice had formed.

His eyes narrowed; he remembered this… but from where?

"_Gya hah hah hah! Let's hide him in here, big brother! Reborn will never find him here!" _

His breath stuck in his throat. _Right_. He and Lambo had brought a kitten off the streets and had wanted to keep it. His mom, dad, and Reborn had all flat-out told them _no_, but they had been adamant. So Lambo, while Tsuna hadn't been looking, too busy feeding the kitty he had been told he would have to let go, had somehow gotten a hold of their dad's equipment and had made a hole in his closet.

It had worked for a few days, but then Reborn had told them to get the cat the hell out of there – the house was starting to stink because they had never bothered to clean the kitten's messes.

After the kitten had left, they had made other uses of the hole in the closet.

He took the loose plaster off the wall and reached into the dark hole. He pulled out a small, rusty chest.

"_Big brother wrote stories in elementary school?" _

The mystery of the lost stories was solved. When Lambo had found out, he had gathered all of Tsuna's essays, put them in the old chest, and had hidden them in the hole; occasionally, he had snuck back into the hole to read the tales. Tsuna remembered all of that as he stared at the small box.

He laughed bitterly as he read the stories now; they were full of so many errors… but Lambo had loved them. They were stories about heroes, about falling in love, of how the weak became strong and defended the world… There was even a bigger packet of a narrative his one teacher had created copies of to share with the class; it had been a story based off of strange dreams he had been having about a teenager who was found by a strange baby and was told that he was going to become the Tenth Don of the mafia Vongola family. There were a lot of characters, their personalities matching oddly with people Tsuna knew in real life.

He flipped through the yellowed pages with a soft smile on his face. Lambo had loved this story the best. He had especially loved it because he had thought that the child in the story – the one who wore Bovino horns and used electricity for attacks and defense – was just like him.

Now that he held the stories in his hands again, he felt… nothing for them. He might have written them, but they had been Lambo's. Lambo had been the one to adore them; his tiny hands had been the one to smudge the ink and lead that had made the words.

He looked from the stack of papers to the mass of roots beneath his pillow. Mukuro's love for stories was a lot like his baby brother's…

_Maek a wIsh, bIg brOther!_

Lambo wouldn't mind.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: One of these times… there is going to be a long chapter! I don't know when… but it <em>will<em> happen!


	9. The Teenager

"TSUNAAAA!"

"HIIIEEE!"

"LAWN-HEAD, GET THE FUCK OFF TENTH!"

"Hah hah! Everyone's so lively today!"

"I will bite you all to death if you do not stop crowding on school grounds."

An awkward silence fell.

Ryohei was lying on Tsuna, who he had tackled to the ground only a few seconds ago. Gokudera was trying to muscle Ryohei off of the brunette, mostly only managing in getting himself dragged down into the dog pile. At the sidelines, Yamamoto had been laughing, but now turned to look at the annoyed prefect glaring at them.

"HIBARIII!" Ryohei shoved a finger in the skylark's direction. "YOU! PARTY! TSUNA'S HOUSE!"

"HIIIEE! Wha- !"

"TONIGHT AT 9! BE THERE!"

Yamamoto, Gokudera, and Tsuna shared a look of horror. _Tsuna's house_? A party?

His mother was going to destroy him.

Hibari's glare intensified. "Are you trying to bribe me?"

"Lawn-head! There's no party at Tenth's house tonight, what the hell are you talking about?"

Ryohei grunted as he sat up – still on top of Tsuna. The brunette let out a dying gasp. "My mama is taking Tsuna's mama out on the town to the EXTREME! So Tsuna's gonna be alone till they get back."

"… When are they getting back?" Yamamoto asked.

"NEXT WEEK!"

Tsuna gaped at Ryohei. "How do you… know this?" He wheezed, having difficulty speaking.

"Kyoko told me!"

"O-oh…"

"Still! You can't decide by yourself to have a party at Tenth's house!" Gokudera snapped. "And get the fuck off of Tenth!"

"WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT?"

"I'm gonna fuckin' kick your ass!"

"Try it, octopus-head!"

"What'd you call me, lawn-head?"

"LET'S SETTLE THIS LIKE MEN!" Ryohei shot to his feet, hands clenched in front of him. "WITH OUR FISTS!"

"Mah mah, let's not fight here, guys." Yamamoto ran off after the two fighting souls, laughing at their energy. "C'mon, we got more important things to do then fight!"

Soon, Tsuna was all alone… with a pissed off Hibari.

He gulped as he looked up at the prefect. "H-hi, Hibari… Uuuhh… sooo… H-how's your day been going?"

His attempt at small talk ended with him waking up in the nurse's office five hours later.

**~ ::: ~ ~ ::: ~ ~ ::: ~**

"HIIIEEE! Don't break that - !" Too late.

"LIGHTEN UP, TSUNAAAA! It's a party TO THE EXTREME!" Ryohei roared directly in his face before trouncing off back to his buddies.

"Yeah, Tsuna! The whole gang's here!" Yamamoto laughed from the couch.

Tsuna grimaced; he knew that, and he was happy about it… but he felt nervous and maybe a little scared.

Everyone _was_ there… Kyoko, Haru, Basil, Yamamoto, Yamamoto's baseball team, Gokudera, Ryohei, Ryohei's club members, Dino (Ryohei had somehow gotten a hold of him), Shoichi (a kid he hardly even knew and looked about as awkward as he felt), and Spanner (another person he just barely knew).

Hell had long since gotten loose. So far, the damage to his house had been… beyond terrifying to him. If his mother came home and saw this, it would be another thing she would add to her list of why she hated him.

The boxing club had settled in the kitchen (surrounded by glass, of course) where they sparred with each other to the loud beat of heart-thumping music (Tsuna had no clue where it was coming from). The baseball team had taken the living room, watching a game on the TV. The girls had retreated to Tsuna's room, dragging Basil with them, and Gokudera had been dragged into watching the game with Yamamoto. Shoichi and Spanner (meeting for the first time, apparently) were discussing mechanics and such at the bottom of the staircase, the mousy Shoichi seeming to open up with excitement the more they talked and icy blue eyes (Spanner's) warming gradually as the conversation dragged on.

That left only one person unaccounted for…

An arm was thrown over his shoulders. "Hey there! How's my cute lil brother doing?" Dino held him tightly to his chest.

"D-Dino!" They weren't actually related, but Dino had considered them brothers since they had first met some years ago under the tutorials of Reborn. "What were you doing?"

"Why would I have to have been doing something?" He sounded sickeningly innocent.

"You were raiding the fridge, weren't you?"

"Now, lil brother! Why ever would you think I would do such a thing… "

"There's sauce on your cheek."

"Damn it."

They laughed together, the tension slowly leaking from Tsuna's shoulders.

"Hey, you look pretty beat up." Dino randomly pointed out.

Tsuna rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, I got caught by Hibari today…"

"Nah, that wasn't what I meant…" Dino traced a fingertip along the bags beneath Tsuna's eyes. "When was the last time you slept?"

"Uuuh…" Seven nights ago, the last night he spent his dreams with Mukuro. Apparently, after repotting him and then setting him in the window, they couldn't communicate… that, or Mukuro was ignoring him for some reason. Either way, ever since they stopped spending time together, Tsuna hadn't been able to sleep so well. "… Last night…?"

"You're a horrible liar, lil brother." Dino huffed. Tsuna stared at the ground in shame. "Hey, how's the family life?" Tsuna flinched. "I thought so." Dino clasped his shoulder and tilted his chin up. He grinned and ruffled Tsuna's hair. "One more year and then you're free, okay?"

"… Yeah… I know…" Except what was he going to do after he was free? How depressing…

"When you're free, you can come and stay with me!"

He looked up at Dino with newfound hope. "Really?"

"Yep! I'd love to have my lil brother living with me!"

"That would be… nice…" And it would be… except… would he ever see his friends again if he lived in Italy?

Before he could open his mouth to ask, someone screamed from upstairs.

Abruptly, the party ended. Everyone was running upstairs at the screech of horror, Ryohei leading them. "KYOKOOO!" Tsuna's door was regrettably ripped off its hinges as the boxer stormed his bedroom. "Are you okay?"

Tsuna looked over Ryohei's shoulder. His eyes widened with horror as his mouth gaped open. Gokudera looked over his head. "T-Tenth… your room…"

Yamamoto stood behind them, copper eyes startled. "Mah mah… what happened here?"

Kyoko and Haru were curled around each other on the bed, Basil standing protectively in front of them.

"Tsuna!" Basil called out. "Thy plant lashed at us!"

"I-I'm sorry, Tsuna!" Haru cried out. "I thought it could use some watering, but…"

His table had been broken cleanly in half, the glass of his window had been shattered, his closet doors had been ripped from the wall, and long groves had been marked into the walls. Only the bed seemed unharmed.

For some reason, he thought he knew why.

"KYOKO! WHAT HAPPENED?" Ryohei grabbed his sister and held her protectively to his chest. The boxing club was quick to form a barrier around them; after all, one's little sister became _everyone's_ little sister. A chorus of 'are you okay?' and 'who did this?' broke out.

Tsuna went to Haru while Dino went to Basil.

Haru grabbed him and held on for dear life. "I-it was horrible, Tsuna! I was just trying to water your plant a-and something happened! The room – the _thing_… something! I was so scared…"

Tsuna looked over his shoulder at the lotus – at _Mukuro_. His roots had broken out of his container and had crawled steadily down the wall, up the wall, and towards both sides until it appeared as if it were a mass of vines instead of roots. An hour ago, just minutes before the party, Mukuro had not looked at all like that.

"I-it did that after I w-watered it…" Haru sniffled into his chest. "I th-thought I saw something forming in the r-roots…"

"… What did you see?"

Haru looked up at him, pale and haunted. "_Eyes_… Th-they glared at me… O-one red, one b-blue…" She sobbed. "Th-they saw me, Tsuna! They s-saw me and they wanted to h-hurt me!"

He stared at Mukuro – was that true?

**~ ::: ~ ~ ::: ~ ~ ::: ~**

The partiers left without much reluctance, Ryohei running out with his sister while the rest of his club trailed after him and with Dino and Basil accompanying Haru back home. Shoichi and Spanner left together, the redhead looking troubled and Spanner inquisitive. Yamamoto's team had been the last to leave, trying to offer a helping hand much like their star player; however, after some reassurances, they left.

Tsuna, Gokudera, and Yamamoto tried unsuccessfully to clean the wreck that was officially his room. The silence enveloping them was thick and heavy, weighing on Tsuna's shoulders like another guilt trip. He should have told them about the flower…

Everyone knew that Gokudera was smart – his grades proved it, he was street smart, and it was rare to come across anyone more logical (or superstitious, but that's a different story). Contrary to popular belief, Yamamoto was also really clever; he didn't lack a brain, only the motivation to use it. Of course they would add up the plant in the cup, the familiarly burnt box and note (that Tsuna had kept in his closet, _but_ his closet was now missing its doors and beholding the objects to their view), and remember the package.

Gokudera carried the air of betrayal as he picked up shards of wood and glass off the floor with trembling hands, jaw clenched tightly. Yamamoto wouldn't look at Tsuna, making futile attempts to stand the shattered table up again and tape it back together.

He stared at the plant whose roots were now hiding one section of his wall. _Why_? It was the only question on his mind. _Why did Mukuro do that? _Or was that simply the way he was supposed to grow? The girls and Basil had been terrified, sure – but they had been unharmed. The bed had been untouched and that had been where they had been cowering. Maybe Mukuro hadn't meant it…

Haru's description of eyes drove doubt into him. But maybe she was wrong too… or maybe he was being far too hopeful.

Gokudera's rage, already so visible and boiling over, exploded without a word from anyone. "I'll kill that fuckin' plant!" He ran at the wall, fingers forming claws as he ripped into the roots and threw them to the ground.

"Gokudera, no!" Tsuna ran up behind him and grabbed him, trying to pull him away. "Gokudera, please! I'm sorry I didn't tell you that I was raising him earlier, but you can't hurt him!"

Both Gokudera and Yamamoto looked at Tsuna, eyes unreadable. It took another moment for Tsuna's words to catch up to him.

"Him?" Yamamoto piped up, walking to his side. "Mah mah, Tsuna… Why a him?"

"Uuuhh… Ummm… 'Cause I just thought that…" He paused; both of them were gazing at him with expressions that said 'don't lie to me'. He sighed. "If… If I tell you the true story… Promise not to be –" no, that wouldn't be fair. They had all the rights in the world to be angry with him; he should have told them sooner… "freaked out?"

Yamamoto looked to Gokudera who looked questionably at Tsuna. Yamamoto nodded at the brunette. "Sure!"

"O-okay… You guys might want to, uh, sit down for this…"

It took him about 15 minutes to summarize his experience with the 'white lotus stamen', otherwise known to be Mukuro. He read the note to them and then he finished with the small message at the bottom, supposedly written by his dead baby brother.

He stole a deep breath when they continued to stare at him, Yamamoto uncertain and thoughtful while Gokudera muttered prayers to Buddha beneath his breath. Gokudera had always been quick to believe the supernatural; Yamamoto was actually much more realistic in that aspect, so Tsuna understood that he was having difficulty wrapping his mind around his words.

"But he's not bad!" Tsuna was quick to add on when he saw Gokudera rise to his feet and stalk back towards the roots with fiery vengeance in his eyes. "He's a little weird – _maybe_ creepy – but he promised me that he wouldn't hurt anyone!" Tsuna decided not to clarify that Mukuro had practically said that he _would_ hurt anyone he felt was threatening him. "I think… I think Lambo sent him to me…"

"Why?" Yamamoto asked, tilting his head curiously. "Why would your baby brother send you a bloodthirsty lotus?" He didn't sound judgmental – truly, he was only curious.

Tsuna winced anyway. It was one of the only things he had never gotten answered. "I… I don't know…"

"I'll tell you why!" Gokudera snarled. "It's because your baby brother _never_ sent you a bloodthirsty lotus! Don't you see, Tenth? It's a trick! It's a parasite! Living off your blood, your dreams, your very thoughts! It's going to drain you dry just so it can live, nothing more and nothing less!" He went back to ripping roots off of the wall. "I'll get rid of it for good this time, Tenth! Don't worry about it! I'll kill it a hundred and one times if I have to!"

"Gokudera, no!" He grabbed the silverette's arm and managed to pull him somewhat away from the lotus. "That isn't true! Mukuro isn't here for that!"

"Mah mah, Tsuna, I'll have to agree with Gokudera on this one."

"What?" Tsuna stared at Yamamoto, eyes widened in pain as the baseball player began tearing down roots just out of arm's reach. "Yamamoto!"

"I'm not sure if I believe everything you say – but I guess most of it has to be true, 'cause I know you weren't lying and it having grown over half of your room just while you were talking is pretty hard to ignore. But I don't trust it, Tsuna. We're doing this for your own safety."

"No!" Tsuna went to release Gokudera and run after the other teen, but he was held sternly in place. His shocked gaze met the serious eyes of his other best friend. "G-Gokudera? What are you doing?"

"We're taking it down, Tenth… I'm sorry. Don't worry! We'll go to the flower shop and get you another plant later! But this one… it's evil." He spat the word. "I don't want it hurting you!"

"Neither of us do, Tsuna." Yamamoto managed to clear a small part of the wall, finally. Behind him, the shorn roots bled cobalt blue and indigo liquids before shriveling into nothing but smoke. "We've got to do this."

"No! Yamamoto! Gokudera, let me go!" He fought – he really fought as hard as he could. But Gokudera held him tightly, his martial arts by far greater than Tsuna's as he expertly contained him.

"Forgive me, Tenth…"

"NO! Mukuro!" He felt it… the tears welled up, but they didn't fall. He fought, he kicked, he hit, and he even tried to bite Gokudera – but, no matter what he did, he couldn't get free. "Mukuro!"

Yamamoto could finally get his hands on the small, broken container holding the seed.

Something… cracked. Literally.

What was left of the roots were pulling themselves off of the wall, tangling and knotting together as they formed a shapeless shield between Yamamoto and the pot. But then it stopped being shapeless… slowly, but surely, a form was made from the earthy fingers, first a body about the size of a teenager's and then the thinner roots creating what might have been hair if not for the odd, pointy design. In the region of the face, two thick roots horizontal of each other rose and revealed duo-colored eyes.

"What the fuck?" Gokudera growled, body now moving to stand protectively in front of a horrified Tsuna; he took careful steps retreating towards the door, trying to push Tsuna out of it. Yamamoto jerked backwards away from the mass, jaw clenched and eyes narrowed. A bead of sweat trickled down the side of his face. "What the fuck are you?" The silverette snarled.

The roots – _Mukuro _– turned his head towards Gokudera, and then inevitably towards Tsuna. His gaze focused on the brunette; another mound of roots in the general area of his face moved (like lips, Tsuna realized numbly; they looked like lips). They quivered wordlessly, determination solid in his eyes as if he was honestly trying to say something.

The fear was overthrown by rage; Gokudera stopped his subtle retreat and snapped furious green eyes upon Mukuro. "Don't look at Tenth like you have the right, you monster!"

Something stabbed Tsuna's heart. _"Life after life, they treated me like I was a monster!"_ "Gokudera, stop that!"

"But, Tenth – "

"He's my friend as much as you two are!" Ah, _crap_; a tear slipped down his cheek, soon followed by others. Yamamoto and Gokudera stared, eyes wide and jaws slack. "Just because he's not human, that makes him a monster? That isn't fair! What about you? And you, Yamamoto? You two are so different, you might as well be two different species! You can't kill him just because you're scared!"

"B-but, Tenth, your room and the stupid girls – "

"I don't think he meant to hurt anyone, Gokudera…" His voice was softer now – still as serious and firm, but gentler and more tired. His eyes continued to water. "I think he was just scared… I'm the only person ever in my room, so I think he got nervous…" He looked to the duo-colored gaze focused on him. "Right?" He almost sounded like he was pleading.

Mukuro, after a small moment, looked away; it wasn't the evasion that openly stated guilt, but one that revealed hurt pride – an ashamed agreement.

Tsuna managed to break loose from Gokudera's loose grasp and go Mukuro's side; true, the appearance was… creepy. Really, really creepy. It reminded him of that first dream he had with him, of how his body had been made of roots. Nonetheless, his eyes were different; they were not cold and aloof. They were, perhaps, a bit angry and sad at the same time, maybe really happy or somewhat pained, but they were not the eyes of that child who had asked Tsuna if he would abandon him.

"There you go, growing again… You either grow too fast or you don't grow at all; what's with that?" He laughed a little nervously. "You were really little just about a week ago…"

"T-Tenth…" Gokudera went to intercept the two, but a hand on his wrist retained him. Yamamoto had come to his side and shook his head when Gokudera threw a glare back at him.

He smiled sappily and leaned close to the silverette's ear. "You want him to be happy, don't you?"

Gokudera jerked and then sulked. "Yeah, but that _thing_ is only going to end up killing him!"

Yamamoto shook his head. "I don't think it – he – wants to kill Tsuna… I think he wants to maybe protect him." When Gokudera looked at him as if he was eating shit, Yamamoto gestured to the root-man's expression, though there wasn't much of one to begin with. "Don't you think he looks like he likes Tsuna?"

"That's even worse!" Gokudera choked on his whisper. "I don't want that _thing_ tainting the Tenth's innocence!"

"I think Tsuna likes him too."

The argument ended there; how could Gokudera deny that?

He watched with disdain sizzling in his heart as the small brunette lifted a hand and rested it on the creature's head, smiling up at him and still cooing sheepishly about his supposed growth spurt.

"… I hate that thing." He spat.

"I know. But he must be a pretty decent guy – err, plant – don't you think?"

"Huh?"

"I've never seen Tsuna like a person who didn't turn out being good in the end." Yamamoto airily explained.

He was right too.

Which could explain his change of heart. To go from defending Gokudera to holding him back…

"Gokudera? Yamamoto?" Tsuna's voice pulled them back into the current moment, out of their private conversation. "Are you… are you guys mad at me? I mean, I'll understand if you are, but – "

"Hah hah! Nothing to worry about, Tsuna! I'd try to hide it too if I was growing something so strange." Yamamoto smiled down at the brunette. He then directed his gaze at the thing. "Er, sorry for trying to rip you off the wall, I guess. No hard feelings?"

If it was possible, the thing glared at him.

"I could never be mad at you, Tenth!" Gokudera gushed. "But that thing…" His mood changed entirely, seething. "If you hurt Tenth, I'll dip you in fuckin' weed repellent!"

The thing glared even harder at him, and yet there was cruel, maniacal laughter in his scarlet and cobalt gaze. Gokudera shivered with disgust.

"Thanks, guys!" Tsuna smiled brightly at them. "I really don't deserve you two…"

"Nonsense, Tenth! _We_ don't deserve _you_!"

"Hah hah! I'm happy being your friend!"

"Now…" Tsuna rubbed the back of his sheepishly. "The directions said to put him in a dark place till he called my name after his roots broke from the pot, but, ummm… I don't think I can carry him myself…" He looked pleadingly at them.

Gokudera growled and crossed his arms petulantly over his chest. He would repair Tsuna's room, dust particle by dust particle; he would do his homework for the rest of their school years, bow to his every whim throughout the rest of their lives, and do virtually anything Tsuna wanted him to do… but he was _not_ touching that thing, no matter what Tsuna said! Even though it hurt him a little to admit that he would deny his beloved friend a single thing…

"Sure, Tsuna!" Yamamoto grinned and moved forward.

Roots whipped out and Mukuro's eyes narrowed even more.

"Eeehhh… I don't think he wants me to help… hah hah, sorry." Yamamoto wearily eyed the incoming roots, taking a few careful steps back.

"Mukuro…" Tsuna whined, looking exhausted already. "Well, unless you can drag yourself into a dark place, I don't see how I'm going to – hiiieee!"

Apparently, Mukuro_ could_ drag himself into a dark place and proceeded to do so, shrinking and reforming until he was squeezed beneath Tsuna's bed without leaving a sign behind of his existence. Well, except for the destruction of Tsuna's room…

There was an uncertain silence.

"… Hah hah! Well, if there were any monsters beneath your bed, they're gone now!" Yamamoto pointed out lightly, referring to their childhood when Tsuna used to think that the boogeyman lived beneath his bed.

"Idiot! Don't make fun of the Tenth like that!" Gokudera growled only half-heartedly; in reality, he could not help but wonder… how was his beloved friend going to sleep knowing that there was that _thing_ beneath his mattress?

Looking to Tsuna, he blinked owlishly at the relieved look on the brunette's face; for some reason, he felt as if he was seeing the answer to his question: very well.

**~ ::: ~ ~ ::: ~ ~ ::: ~**

"Thanks for helping me clean up, guys." Tsuna, Yamamoto, and Gokudera were at the front door, the brunette leaning tiredly against the jamb while his two friends looked just as bushed. "Are you two sure you don't want to stay the night? You guys look pretty exhausted…"

Gokudera opened his mouth, about to say 'yes' because he had no plan of letting his friend stay alone with that _thing_, but was stopped when a hand was placed over his lips. He almost snarled at Yamamoto, but paused at the meaningful look in his eyes, as if he was trying to tell him something through eye contact. Looking from Yamamoto to Tsuna, he saw the reluctant light in the brunette's eyes that proclaimed that he hoped they wouldn't accept his offer, no matter how adamantly he proposed.

"Don't worry about it, Tsuna." Yamamoto grinned. "We'll be just fine! It's not that late!" It was 3 in the morning; they had spent a lot of time trying to fix the things that had been trashed in Tsuna's room and then tidying up the rest of the house.

Gokudera shoved Yamamoto's hand aside and gazed worriedly at his friend. "I'll be back tomorrow to check up on you, kay? I know you can't cook for yourself and with the old hag gone…" He trailed off, not sure if he went too far or not.

Tsuna laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I guess that's true… but, Gokudera, you're not that good at cooking either…"

"Hah hah! I'll come too! I'm sure my old man won't mind if I bring down some food for us!"

"Idiot… who _asked_ if _you_ could come?"

"Hah hah! You're just grumpy because it's so late~"

"Shut up!"

"'Night, Tsuna!" Yamamoto waved as he left, a fuming silverette at his side.

"Good night, Tenth!" Gokudera waved more vigorously back at him, a large grin splitting his cheeks.

"Night, Gokudera; Yamamoto!" Tsuna watched them leave until they were out of sight. Drained of energy, he slowly shut the door behind him and all but literally dragged himself back up to his room. He dropped himself onto his bed, deadweight.

Moaning lightly, he pulled himself fully onto the bed, eyelids drooping before he could even halfheartedly get undressed.

When he opened his eyes again, a teenager with iris blue hair pulled back into a spiky bun with bangs reaching down his cheeks stared at him with a duo-colored gaze of scarlet red and cobalt blue.

"Mukuro…?" Tsuna sat up and rubbed a hand over his eyes, eyeballing the man. "Wow… you really _did_ grow…"

The teen reluctantly chuckled. "Imagine what I will look like when I call your name~"

Tsuna's eyes bugged. "I never thought about that…"

"Kufufufu~ of course not."

There was a small silence, almost awkward and slowly becoming more so.

"Mukuro, why did you – "

"I wasn't trying to hurt anyone." Mukuro knew before he was even done asking what his question was; then again, with what had happened earlier, it must have been pretty obvious. "I was defending myself."

"But Haru said all she was trying to do was water you."

"Haru isn't _you_."

"Hiiee?" Tsuna was startled by the focused glower he was given. "W-what does that have to do with anything?" He had a feeling he already knew, though. He _had_ defended Mukuro earlier using about the same reasoning.

Yet it felt different listening to his words coming from Mukuro… as if it was no longer an excuse, but a solid, irrefutable reason.

"How am I supposed to react when someone I have never seen before, knowing that you never have guests over, is trying to throw some liquid on me?" He sounded… defensive.

The brunette vaguely remembered – more like the memory hit him like a brick to the head – that Mukuro had already lived six lives. His intuition told him that that tidbit was vital to the problem he was currently facing. He asked the first question that came to mind. "Were you poisoned before?" Could that question have been any _more_ random?

Mentally berating himself, he was surprised when Mukuro twitched, eyes cast bitterly to the side. "Oya, and if I have been?"

Tsuna paled. "Y-you have?"

"Kufufufu~ my fourth life, I had a bud – a beautiful little pistil with vibrant purple hair and magenta eyes who adored me with all her being; one of my own genus decided that she was too beautiful to be my bud, and so poisoned me with tainted water. When I died, they took my bud and then, though they treated her kindly, neglected her. Have you ever seen a bud that is given all the nutrients needed but no love? They begin to rot from the inside and droop without. Soon, they find reasons why not to bloom and so my bud nearly lost her life. Do not look so sad; she was well the last time I saw her. She has found a new genus – though they both try to play at not caring for her."

No matter his words, Tsuna was still sad; Mukuro was _murdered_ just so his own family could take his - … what did Mukuro mean by bud? His child or his sibling? Either way, his heart felt heavy.

Lambo's smile popped into his mind, wide and confident. _"Gya hah hah! Tsuna's crying! Tsuna's such a crybaby!" _And when no one was looking, he would procure a tissue from his afro and hand it to him, telling him not to tell anyone or else that might make him 'look bad' in front of Reborn, because caring when someone else cried wasn't _tough_.

"Oya, you have such a warm heart, worrying over matters that don't concern you…" Mukuro sighed, stalking onto the bed and plopping down with his head on Tsuna's lap. "As for your friends~" he was smiling, but he might as well had fangs for how comforting it was.

"They were just trying to protect me!" Tsuna was quick to defend them. "Just like you weren't sure what to make of Haru, they weren't sure what to make of you. I mean… well… umm… well, _you're_ not something anyone sees everyday. We have flowers, but we don't… have flowers that grow into…" _whatever you are_. But he wasn't completely sure how to say that without sounding insulting…

"Your species would consider me an alien." Mukuro supplied for him. "Oya, I suppose I can… _maybe_ let this slide…" His eyes were narrowed in the promise of giving out punishment later.

Tsuna wasn't as shocked as he should have been by the term; hadn't he already thought it before? "I hope so." Tsuna sighed. "I don't know how I'm going to comfort Kyoko, Haru, and Basil, though… Big brother – " he was referring to Ryohei "is pretty… well, extreme. If the girls tell him that you attacked them, he is going to try and kill you and I'm not really strong enough to fend him off…" Though that one time when his tutor had held Lambo at gunpoint and told him to win the boxing match Ryohei had forced him into, he had beaten the boxer up pretty hard…

The memory of how Lambo had been so oblivious to the gun Reborn had held at his temple (Tsuna wasn't completely sure, nor did he care to know, why his tutor had had a gun to begin with) while he had cheered him on made his heart clench. _"Gya hah hah! Big brother's gonna kick your big brother's ass!" _He had said so naively to Kyoko with a shit-eating grin.

"I can defend myself." Mukuro shut his eyes and burrowed his nose into Tsuna's belly. "Can you read fairy tales to me?"

He blinked and then sighed. He smiled happily. "Yeah, I can do that… but the book is all the way over _there_." It was on the poorly repaired writing table. "And you're too heavy to bring with me, so you either have to move or get it yourself."

Mukuro appeared to consider both options and then cooed as he sat up. "In that case~" He pushed Tsuna into the bed, making the brunette yelp in surprise. "I'll use a different noise to lull me to sleep, kufufufufu~"

Tsuna, not actually much of a pervert, could not help but feel that the other teen was making a very lecherous expression as he said that.

Mukuro ducked his head, face so near to Tsuna's that he could feel his sweet breath whisper over his face – surprisingly sweet, actually… alluring even. His eyes drooped as Mukuro came even closer, his mind becoming fuzzy. In the next moment, he blinked, Mukuro's breathing no longer interrupting his thoughts as the blue-haired man settled with his head over his heart. "Hiiee?"

"Oya, this is very comforting~" He nestled into Tsuna's chest. "Where I come from, no one has a heartbeat. Kufufufu~ no one has a heart, actually."

"I-is that so?" What an embarrassing moment for him! Had Mukuro noticed? He waited to see if the other teen would taunt him for it, but all that followed was the other's slow and even breathing. "M-Mukuro?" No reply. Tilting his head so he could try and see the other's expression, the other was… sleeping. "… Good night, Mukuro…"

* * *

><p>Author's Note: MWA HAH HAH! Here's the long chapter I've been promising but never giving! Beautiful, isn't it?<p>

Yeah, you guys thought Mukuro was going to try something naughty towards the end, didn't you? _Didn't you_? Heh heh~


	10. The Lovers

"WHERE THE FUCK IS THAT PLANT THAT SCARED KYOKOOOO?" Ryohei broke down Tsuna's bedroom door for the _second_ time, his loud voice plus the resulting crash making Tsuna scream and bodily jerk himself off the bed. Oh so suddenly, he wasn't tired anymore…

He yelped again when he met a pair of eyes beneath his bed, duo-colored. Oh, _wait_ – Mukuro was hiding under his bed… he had forgotten for a moment. His forehead thumped against the floor as he groaned. "Big brother… how'd you get in?" Now, that was a stupid question; he vaguely remembered not locking the door after his friends left. He sat up and rubbed his now bruised ribs. He had landed on his front.

"I _extremely_ broke down your front door!"

"Hiiiee? Was that necessary?"

"IT WAS IN MY WAY!"

"HIIEEE!" So scary!

"WHERE'S THE PLANT?"

"U-uh… plant?"

"THE PLANT THAT SCARED KYOKOOO!"

"N-not here!" Oh, great… he had lied on instinct; was he really being that untruthful lately that it came naturally?

"WHERE IS IT?"

"G-Gokudera burned him!" _Damn_, lying _was_ becoming easier for him! But, then again, that was also the truth… it just so happened that Gokudera had burned him a very _long_ time ago and had failed.

And then he realized his verbal mistake; _double damn it_.

"WHERE?" Okay, so Ryohei hadn't noticed that he had called the plant a 'him'.

"I-I don't know!" He was going to give him a heart attack!

Ryohei looked around the room with narrowed, angry eyes as if a clue must have been left behind for him to follow. "THAT PLANT IS LUCKY… TO THE LIMIIIIT!"

Tsuna was shaking where he sat. "I-is that so?" Why was he so loud?

"I was gonna settle this like men!"

"… With your fists?" Against a _plant_? Well, sure, Mukuro could defend himself, but Ryohei didn't know that! … Or at least didn't know that he had fists.

"EXTREME!"

Ryohei grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and lifted him to his feet. Tsuna stared up into the violent gunmetal grey eyes glaring down at him. "… Are you okay?"

He blinked. Well, that wasn't what he had expected… "Yeah… why?"

"You've been living with that plant! What if it had done that to you instead of Kyoko?" Even when he was talking with an indoor-voice, he still growled and grunted his words.

"W-well, uh…" He couldn't quite say that he knew Mukuro wouldn't, because that would lead to an explanation that would make even Ryohei superstitious, and he couldn't think of a lie to assure him either. "… H- it… didn't… do that to me instead of Kyoko?"

There was a small silence in which Tsuna wasn't sure if Ryohei was going to sock him or accept his poor reasoning.

"… YOU'RE EXTREMELY RIGHT!" Ryohei shoved him back onto the bed. "SORRY FOR WAKING YOU UP SO EARLY! I'LL GO FIND OCTOPUS-HEAD NOOOOWW!" With those final words, he ran out of Tsuna's room and down the stairs, his every footstep like thunder.

Tsuna stared after him. "… Hiiee… Now I have to call Gokudera so he isn't confused – HIIEE!" It was only 4 in the morning! Gokudera and Yamamoto had only left an hour ago, what were the chances that they would be awake or even capable of being woken up?

He thought of Ryohei crashing into Gokudera's apartment and the damaging fight that would ensue if the silverette had no clue what was going on while sleep deprived; it was best to at least _try_.

"Oh, yeah!" He got off the bed and ducked down, looking under his bed. "Are you okay, Mukuro?" The mound of roots nodded. "Heh heh… I was kind of worried you would think big brother to be a bad guy… don't worry, though; he's just really… _loud_. And strong. … And challenging." He smiled sheepishly. "Well, I'm going to call Gokudera now and then I'll be back, okay?" Another nod.

He hunted down his cell phone and went through the contact list until he came upon Gokudera's number. "Please pick up, pick up, pick up…"

**~ ::: ~ ~ ::: ~ ~ ::: ~**

"Nn… Nha… M-mmm…" Hands clawed into pale blue sheets, eyes squeezed tightly shut as a trickle of drool seeped down his chin. "O-oh _god_, m-more…" His chest was digging into the bed, ass raised high with his knees far apart. His breathing was erratic, heartbeat uncontrollable, and a mound of tension was winding painfully in the pit of his stomach. "Hayato!"

The baseball player was beneath the pale Italian, copper eyes flickering open before sealing shut again as the silverette struck his prostate endlessly, wave after wave of pleasure all but crippling him. He let loose small moans and low whines, hips snapping back with every forward thrust of his lover's hips.

Gokudera, nails digging into the other's hips, chest burning with every sucked-in breath, and eyes lit a glow-in-the-dark green with lust, was damn pleased his lover wasn't a screamer; it was just too annoying to have someone wail and cry like they were being raped. "M-more? Fine… take more." He twisted his hips, turning Yamamoto sideways and throwing one of his legs over his shoulder.

Yamamoto groaned, long and low as his eyes hazed blindly over. "Hayato…"

"Takeshi…" In such intimate situations, it didn't bother him when they used each other's first names; no, he damn well _preferred_ it. Though he would beat Yamamoto to death if the idiot tried to use it outside the bedroom… or the kitchen… or the shower… or whatever place they were currently fucking each other's brains out at. "Y-you close?" He knew he was.

"Y-yeah…" Yamamoto back created a perfect arch as Gokudera grabbed his erection and steadily pumped it in rhythm with their actions. "Hayato!"

Gokudera groaned when his actions resulted in Yamamoto's sheath squeezing around him, so tight he wasn't even sure if he could move. "C-close…" He was so very close… and he could see that Yamamoto was to, their beat becoming irregular and soft grunts escaping both of them.

"Nn!" Yamamoto came across his belly and chest as well as the bed, body becoming slack shortly thereafter.

"T-" Gokudera would have followed him, would have let himself be dragged into exhausted oblivion with the twitching of Yamamoto's inner muscles and then _finally_ fall asleep with the possibility of never waking up, had his phone remained silent.

'_Hiiiee! Gokudera, why are you recording this? What do you mean it's for a ringtone? G-Gokudera, that's embarrassing! I don't care if it's so you know it's me calling, can't you just choose a song to represent me? Well, why don't you record Yamamoto's voice for a ringtone too, then! Y-you did? Oh… What does that sound like – '_

"Tenth!" He was painfully hard, extremely horny, about to explode, and his beloved friend was calling him at 4 in the morning (which could only mean something bad)! The night (or morning) was turning out to be terrible. "Are you alright?" He wailed into the mouthpiece.

"_A-ah, hi, Gokudera…" _Tsuna coughed awkwardly on the other end of the line. _"I – uh… might have done something bad…" _

"Mah mah, is Tsuna okay?" Yamamoto drowsed, languidly moving so that he could rest his head between Gokudera's shoulder blades and wrap his arms around his waist.

"… _Are you at Yamamoto's?" _Tsuna must have heard the baseball player's voice.

"Hah hah! Nope, I'm at Gokudera's!" Yamamoto, now close enough to hear his friend's voice, replied for the flushed silverette. "I didn't want my old man to catch me coming home so late. So I'm going to call him tomorrow morning and say that I forgot to tell him that I was staying the night at Gokudera's."

"_O-oh… Well, guys… I kind of told big brother that, um… Gokudera burned the plant… so…" _

Both lovers went quiet, drawing up the same conclusion. "The lawn-head's on his way here?" Gokudera growled.

"Mah mah, don't get angry, Gokudera~" Yamamoto smirked against his throat. "Here…" He purred too softly for Tsuna to hear. "I'll make you feel better."

The silverette sucked in a deep breath. "N-nn!"

"_Gokudera? Are you alright?" _Tsuna's worried voice came over the cell phone.

"Y-yes, Tenth! Everything's alright!" Except Yamamoto was jacking him off while he was _trying_ to talk to his beloved friend! And he was doing a damn good job, too. Gokudera moved the phone as far away from him as he could while he moaned low in his throat. His moan turned into a hiss as Yamamoto's cum-covered fingers rubbed his puckered orifice. Damn, Yamamoto was going to get back at him for earlier… "Don't w-worry, Tenth! I'll take c-care of the lawn-head when he ge-ets here!"

"_Gokudera, are you sure you're alright – " _Yamato took the phone from Gokudera.

"Don't worry about him, Tsuna; he's just trying not to yawn! It's been a really long night."

"_A-are you sure?" _Even Tsuna wasn't quick to believe that.

"You know how Gokudera is when he's talking with you. He thinks that yawning while talking to you is disrespectful." Gokudera bit his bottom lip; Yamamoto had just slipped a finger in… he was so mother fucking _close_!

"_Well, I guess you're right…" _

"Hah hah! Is that all, Tsuna?"

"_Yeah… sorry for causing more trouble for you guys." _

"Don't worry; it's no trouble at all! We'll see you tomorrow, Tsuna!"

"_Kay, good night, guys; and, Yamamoto? Please don't let Gokudera and Ryohei cause too much damage." _

"Gotcha!"

"_Say goodbye to Gokudera for me."_

"Yep!" Tsuna hung up and Yamamoto flipped the phone shut, humming pleasantly. "Now, where were we…" Gokudera gave him a peeved expression. "Oh, yeah! We were in _you_~" he added a second finger, squeezing his palm around Gokudera's length to stop him from cumming. He was far from done with him.

"B-bastard!" Gokudera panted. "Let me fucking _cum_ or I swear I will fuck you so hard you'll never be able to run bases again."

"Mah mah, Gokudera, you're not really in any position to talk~"

"Idiot!"

"I just wanna feel you all around me~"

"Fuck me _after_ I cum!"

"Hmm… Nope! 'Cause then you'll just fall asleep and I can't have that."

"You're such a masochistic _asshole_." A third finger and Gokudera bucked his hips into the intrusion.

Yamamoto procured a string (amazing what could be lying around) and secured it around the base of Gokudera's length. "Ready?"

"Just fucking do me."

"Gotcha!"

It would be another three hours before Ryohei realized that he had completely forgotten where Gokudera lived. By then, the two lovers were asleep, contently wrapped around each other.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: This was why the story was rated M~ though I do promise more in the future!<p> 


	11. The Desperation

A week had passed since the party incident; of course, people were now even more hateful towards him. After all, two helpless girls and Basil had been attacked at _his_ house at _his_ party by something the witnesses could not even believe themselves. His close friends were more protective than ever over him and of that he was both annoyed and grateful for.

Dino was sending him an email every day, Ryohei kept kicking ass, Gokudera kept kicking Ryohei's ass, Yamamoto kept himself at either Gokudera's or Tsuna's side (because no one liked to bad talk anyone standing next to Yamamoto, though it was a completely different story the moment he walked away), the girls were quick to defend him and claim that they weren't actually sure what had happened, and Shoichi and Spanner were acting thankful to him.

Apparently, they were now very close friends on the verge of dating, thanks to his party. He was startled by them both being guys (Yamamoto and Gokudera standing next to him hadn't seemed so startled as much as tense), but he had been happy nonetheless. As awkward as it appeared, love was love no matter who's sharing it, right?

He thought of Mukuro and the moment he had thought they were going to kiss. _Right_.

Friday afternoon, he came back home, a few bruises heavier because he had been late to school and then some bullies had caught him alone between classes. And then he had gotten beaten again because Hibari had caught them and decided that they were _all_ disturbing the peace.

He stumbled into his room, exhausted. "Hi, Mukuro – hiiieee!" He stared, eyes wide with horror, at who rested on his bed with a book in hand. "M-mom?"

Dead eyes looked up at him. "Hello, Tsuna…" She looked back down to the book in her hands, flipping a page. Tsuna realized that it was a photo album. "I was just remembering my baby and I thought I would come in here to try and imagine how life would be if he was still alive instead of my good-for-nothing son."

Tsuna flinched. His mom was in a bad mood – a very, _very_ bad mood; usually, her cruelty was limited to making others hate him or completely ignoring him herself. "M-mom, I'm sorry…" There he goes again, apologizing for something that should have never been his fault.

Her head bowed over the book and her shoulders began to shake. Tears plunked against the pages. "I want my b-baby back… I want him back s-so bad…"

"I-I know…"

"No!" She hissed, looking at him with hateful eyes. "You _don't_ know." She got to her feet and he stumbled against the wall, surprised by the intent in her eyes. That rage slowly, reluctantly, turned to desperation. "P-please… please just kill yourself… I'm begging you, p-please… I w-would rather live alone… than with my b-baby's murderer."

His heart shattered in his chest; the words were finally said. "M-mom…"

She covered her ears. "Don't call me that! Oh, _god_, don't c-call me that…" She sunk to the floor, forehead touching the wood. "You've taken _everything_ from me!"

He wanted to say the words so badly: _'It wasn't my fault, it wasn't my fault, it wasn't my fault!' _They were there on the tip of his tongue, burning through his heart till it was painful to breathe. _'It wasn't my fault!' _But his mother looked so defeated, so broken… and, really, it was his fault.

"Please… k-kill yourself." She sounded so drained.

The photo album was open on the bed, flipped to the page where Lambo was sleeping in Tsuna's arms as they walked away from the amusement park, cotton candy still stuffed in his mouth while Tsuna looked about awkward as he remembered feeling. Kyoko had been there (a coincidental meeting) and she had been cooing about how adorable Lambo had looked as he had sleep-talked (somehow with his mouth full) about how he wanted Reborn to bow at his feet and show him the respect he deserved.

It was odd how crystal clear that memory was in his mind as he stared at the photo. He could remember the smell of dumplings and straw with a tang of sweat and fur while the sounds of the Ferris wheel and screaming kept him deaf. He remembered the warmth of Lambo in his arms, how the last words the boy had mumbled before they had gotten home were _"big brother, never leave me…"_

His legs weren't strong enough to hold him up any longer. He collapsed against the wall as his mother stood to her feet, as if she somehow drew on his lost energy for her own. She picked up the book and wordlessly left him, ignoring him now as she always had since that day they had buried Lambo in the ground. She had said what had she had wanted to say and had told Tsuna what she wanted him to do; she wasn't going to stay around any longer to see if he would actually do it.

She would learn sooner or later.

"… It wasn't my fault…" Too late, she was long gone, most likely making dinner – enough for two because she was masochistic like that in reminding herself that she had to feed him as well. "It wasn't…" But he didn't even sound like he believed himself. "… Was it…?"

His heart hurt so much… he couldn't take it. He couldn't take it! _"Please… k-kill yourself…" _

But he had friends, right? They didn't want him to kill himself… right? Dino had offered him a home after he graduated and, and…

He had Mukuro.

He crawled across the floor and slipped beneath the bed – a tight, uncomfortable fit that made him feel as if he was being crushed. The roots, cool and damp, surrounded him in a cocoon. Duo-colored eyes were accepting on him.

He sniffled – tried to hold in the tears and bite back the sobs, and ultimately failed. A broken, keening wail left him as a tear slid down his cheek and landed on one of the many roots. Another tear followed… and then countless more. His eyes were squeezed shut, body curled as far into the mound as he could be while he tried to at least keep quiet.

"Ts…"

He didn't hear the sound, his own tearing sobs so loud to his own ears and his heartbeat so _annoyingly_ strident.

"Ts…"

But there was something more noticeable going on… the mass against him was becoming firmer, cool and moist roots becoming lukewarm, soft… _skin_?

His eyes dragged themselves open. They widened when he saw the arms around him; not just roots, but actual _arms_. A tear slipped from his cheek and landed on the appendage, the tiny droplet resting for only a short moment before it was _absorbed_. Tsuna watched it as it ran up through a purple vein, actually able to track its movement as it flowed to one of the last remaining roots on Mukuro's body and even that became flesh as the glitter of blue faded away.

His eyes trailed up from Mukuro's chest to his face, breath sticking in his throat. Mukuro was older again, cheeks a little shallower than when he had been a teenager and his jaw sharper. His eyes were narrower than previous and his smile had lost its edge of cruelty almost altogether – almost, but not quite. His shoulders were broader and Tsuna would bet that he was taller too.

"Tsu…" Mukuro was trying to say his name, duo-colored eyes focused and somber on him as he lifted a hand and feathered it through Tsuna's thick locks.

He felt oddly frozen, as if his life wouldn't begin again until Mukuro succeeded. He waited with wide, caramel eyes as Mukuro's other arm tightened around his waist, frustration sparking in his gaze.

"Tsu…" His hand wondered from Tsuna's hair to his cheek, catching the salty trails on his fingertips; his blue tears raced through Mukuro's purple veins. "Tsun…" His eyebrows drew together and he smiled irately.

"Mmph!" Tsuna's eyes – impossibly so – widened more as lips covered his. Mukuro's sweet taste made him dizzy, any idea he might have had to fight defeated before he could even think about it. Mukuro's tongue invaded his mouth and it circled Tsuna's, taunting it to rise and play.

When he pulled away, Tsuna felt boneless, hands clutched against Mukuro's chest.

The man smirked down at him. "Tsuna…" He petted him. "You will not kill yourself."

Tsuna gaped at him, the dots connecting finally. His blood had given Mukuro life, his dreams had given Mukuro emotions, his tears had given him a body, and his mouth had given him a voice.

"I will not let you." Mukuro vowed. "So stop your tears and smile for me."

He couldn't bring himself to smile – for one, he was still struck dumb by the kiss and, for two, his mother's words still haunted him. And then there was that Mukuro was an _actual_ person not just in his dreams now – but he wrapped his arms around Mukuro's neck and pulled the man's head to his heart, eyes flickering shut.

When Mukuro began to breathe deeply, lured to a state between sleep and waking instantly by his heartbeat, it was the greatest reassurance anyone could have given him. Because it showed that someone – just _one_ person, at least – would rather his heart beat than not.

* * *

><p>He hadn't realized he had fallen asleep – but he woke up on his bed, so he must have passed out at one point.<p>

He sat up and looked blearily around himself. "Mukuro…?" There was no answer. He was suddenly very much awake. "Mukuro?" In vain hope, he looked beneath the bed; nothing. "Mukuro!" He ran throughout the entire house, looking for the man. He checked every room, every closet, every crevice that there was. "Mukuro!"

He stopped, out of breath, in his backyard. Maybe… maybe Mukuro was just out looking at things? He was pretty new to earth in general, right? So… he would be back… right?

Something cold and hard encased his heart. He had never really thought about what would happen after Mukuro was fully grown; it had never occurred to him to think about it. "Mukuro…" He whispered to himself. He might have cried – really, he did want to – but his eyes were dry from having already let his tears fall.

He went back into the house, everything as dark as depression as he stumbled back to his room; his mother must have left. Maybe she had thought he would kill himself and didn't want to be blamed for it. Yeah, because that would be _another_ thing to hate him for, even after death – getting her sent to jail for the murder of the son she so openly hated…

He curled up on his bed, arms protectively around his torso as he drew his legs up. "Mukuro…" Did everyone have to leave him eventually? No, that was just stupid… he still had Gokudera, Yamamoto, Ryohei, Dino, Kyoko, Haru, and… well, the list did go on. Didn't it? There were people who didn't hate him out there, happy that he was alive.

"_You will not kill yourself. I will not let you. So stop your tears and smile for me." _

"_Gya hah hah! Big brother's such a cry baby!" "Here, big brother; don't tell Reborn that I gave you a tissue, got that? Please don't cry anymore… I-I w-won't cry too, but I-I might pret-tend to!" _

"_Please, k-kill yourself." _

He didn't sleep the rest of the night.

* * *

><p>"He's not picking up his phone…" Gokudera stared at the small, glowing screen, eyes hard and yet concerned. "Why isn't he picking up his phone?"<p>

"I don't know…" Yamamoto was just as worried, though more subtly so.

The last time they had seen or heard from Tsuna had been Friday; it was currently Sunday. They had never before gone so long without contact.

Neither of them wanted to think of why Tsuna wouldn't contact them; the possibilities, though not endless, were obvious. Tsuna's mother could be the culprit… or the creature growing beneath his bed.

Yamamoto and Gokudera looked at each other, stuck on the same thought. "Let's go to his house and see if he's there." Yamamoto supplied. "Ah, but what do we do if his mom is home…?"

"We break in through the Tenth's window." Gokudera growled. "That bitch isn't going to hurt the Tenth and get away with it!"

Yamamoto tilted his head. "Hey, Gokudera…" The silverette threw him an angry look. "Why are you so protective of Tsuna?"

Gokudera paled and then snarled. "What?"

"I mean, you used to hate him, but after his brother passed away, you wouldn't leave him alone… why?"

Gokudera's snarl hesitantly died away, pain reflected in his eyes. He looked down to the ground, hands clenched at his sides. "I have always blamed myself for my mother's death… and when I heard that his little brother had died – that he was being blamed for it and yet he still had the strength to smile – I wanted to…" He blinked. "… Why the fuck do you care, you idiot? It doesn't concern you!" He had said too much.

"… You wanted to make sure he kept smiling?" Yamamoto enquired softly. Gokudera's flinch and downturned expression was answer enough. "Then I'll make sure you keep smiling!"

"Eh?"

"Tsuna's happiest when his friends are happy. If you're happy, then he's happy – so I'll make sure you're as happy as can be so that you can both be happy!" Yamamoto grasped Gokudera's hand. They were in the silverette's apartment, so he shouldn't get too harsh a beating for showing affection. "I love you, Gokudera…" He pressed a kiss to Gokudera's palm. "Let's make sure we're all happy together, kay?"

Gokudera stared up at him with wide, misty green eyes. "… I-idiot! What are you talking about at a time like this? We have to make sure the Tenth is okay!" He hit Yamamoto across the face and then stalked off. "Are you coming?"

Yamamoto smiled after him. Gokudera hadn't denied him. "Gotcha!"

They were tiptoeing their way into the backyard, aiming for the tree that had branches reaching towards Tsuna's window. They moved quietly, taking fast, soundless steps toward the only safe way to Tsuna.

The house was dark, true; but Tsuna's mom could still be there. Just because none of the lights were on didn't mean that they were cleared for infiltration.

Gokudera managed to get to the tree first, a triumphant smirk on his lips. "We're coming, Tenth."

"Gokudera…" Yamamoto's slightly worried voice invaded his thoughts.

"Not now, idiot! Start climbing!"

"Gokudera."

"_What, _idiot?" He snapped his head around to glare at the baseball player. Yamamoto was pointedly staring at the sliding doors leading into the backyard. "… Shit!" Watching them through the glass with dead eyes was Nana, Tsuna's mom. And in her hand was a phone. "She's going to call the police on us."

"Gokudera."

"_What_?"

"I have an idea!"

"What the fuck is it? Gah!" An arm circled his neck and pulled him away from the tree, another circling his chest.

"You can't hurt Tsuna, Gokudera!" Yamamoto honestly sounded stern and unforgiving; why the fuck wasn't this guy in the drama department instead of sports?

"What the fuck are you talking abou-…" Gokudera wasn't stupid. "Lemme the fuck go! That little – " he died a little inside with his next words "shit deserves what's coming to him!"

The phone in Nana's hand disappeared into her apron; though her eyes weren't so trusting, she appeared curious and perhaps a bit hopeful. She unlocked the patio doors and let it open just an inch, most likely so she could better hear them.

"I know he hurt Kyoko, Haru, and Basil, and he _should_ get beaten, but if we're caught, we'll go to jail!"

"No one gives a fuck for the little brat!" The watery glaze over his eyes was completely real; he hated that he was insulting his beloved friend and insinuating that he wanted to hurt him. But the door was opening a few more inches and, whether or not she believed they were acting, Nana looked a little more welcoming by the second.

"I want to hurt him too, Gokudera!" Yamamoto falsely admitted, his somber face also not fake but just misinterpreted by their one-person audience. "But I don't want to let him ruin my life anymore by taking away my chance to be a professional baseball player! People don't hire kids out of jail!"

The door slid open all the way. "Would you two like to come in?" She smiled at them in a way she hadn't smiled in years – with true happiness. "I think Tsuna's in his room… I'll be going out for a bit, so…" She trailed off purposefully.

She was giving them the time and the privacy to do as they wished with her son.

"Let me get my purse…" She gestured them in and then went to find her bag. "Ah, alright then! Both of you have a wonderful day!" She smiled cheerfully as she left through the front door.

Yamamoto waved her out, a pleasant-enough smile on his face while Gokudera looked irately away. The moment the door clicked shut, a fist-sized hole developed in the wall next to the silverette and a trail of blood led out of Yamamoto's mouth from where he had been biting his tongue too hard.

"That… That _bitch_…. We gave her all the reason to believe that we were going to… going to hurt the Tenth and she _let us in_…"

"Because she wants us to hurt him." Yamamoto sighed, wiping his chin and bottom lip clean. "You said it yourself; he's being blamed for something he really didn't do." He tried to smile, but it was fake. "Let's go see how he is, okay?"

"… Yeah…"

In the back of his mind, what bothered him most was that they were Tsuna's _best friends_ – and yet Nana had believed that they would want to hurt him anyway. Then again, she was the Tenth's _mother_; how much more sense did that make that she _wanted_ them to hurt him?

They ran up the stairs.

"Tenth!"

"Tsuna!"

Gokudera beat Yamamoto to Tsuna's room by a mere second, shoving the door open; already so abused, it fell of its hinges with only a dying squeak. Neither of them paid it any heed. Their eyes were focused and horror made their lips downturn.

"Tenth…"

"Tsuna…"

Their friend was lying listlessly on his bed, pale with dark bags beneath his dull eyes. His hair was flat and greasy-looking, his body appearing weak and motionless. For one numb moment, they thought he was dead; but then the barely noticeable movement of his chest, his breathing, forced them into action.

Gokudera grabbed Tsuna and lifted him into his arms while Yamamoto shook him, both of them calling out to him.

"Tenth!"

"Tsuna!"

"Wake up, Tenth!" Was he even sleeping? His eyes were red and dry as if they had been open for a very long time. "Wake up!"

"C'mon, Tsuna…" Yamamoto patted his cheek, trying to rouse him. "You're really worrying us! Just nod if you're in there, kay? Just… do something!"

For long minutes, Tsuna did nothing.

And then he sighed. "… Do you guys… want to leave me too?" His voice was cracked and hoarse, his words whispering over chapped, white lips.

"What?" Yamamoto was taken aback. "No, Tsuna! Friends don't leave friends behind."

"I never want to leave you, Tenth!" Gokudera stated solemnly. "No matter what happens, I will never want to leave you!"

Tsuna's hands came up slowly. He grasped Gokudera's hand in one and Yamamoto's in the other. He held them both, staring at their entwined fingers. He shuddered, a strange, wheezing sound escaping his throat. He was… _crying_.

"I don't want to die…" He admitted in a soft, ashamed voice, as if it was a bad thing he wanted to live. "But I can't live life alone!" He looked at them with broken eyes. "I wish – !..." _Maek a wIsh, bIg brOther! _"I wish I didn't have to be alone… ever again."

Yamamoto and Gokudera both wrapped their arms around him, holding him between them like a child that needed protection. "We'll never leave you, Tsuna." Yamamoto murmured, nuzzling his chin into his shoulder.

"We'll do whatever it takes to make you happy, Tenth!" Gokudera swore, clenching Tsuna's hand in his own.

Tsuna buried his head in Gokudera's chest. "I-I'm sorry… I've b-been crying a l-lot lately…"

"You can cry all you want, Tenth! If you want, I'll cry with you!" Gokudera tried to will the tears forward – which wasn't so difficult because seeing his most beloved friend cry already made him want to cry.

Tsuna choked on laughter. "T-that's not necessary, Gokudera…"

"If it will make you feel better, anything is necessary!"

"… C-can we stay like this… a little longer? I-I'm sorry that it's a-awkward…" Gokudera and Yamamoto looked at each other over Tsuna's head; it wasn't awkward for them.

The silence stretched for over a half hour before any of them dared to so much as twitch.

"Let's get you out of here, Tenth." Gokudera reluctantly disentangled himself from the group to grab some clothes and toiletries for Tsuna. "You'll stay at my place!"

"O-okay – " His stomach growled loudly. His cheeks tinted with color as Yamamoto laughed.

"Hah hah! I think we should head to my place first! You sound pretty hungry, Tsuna, when was the last time you ate?"

The brunette looked ashamedly down. "U-umm… lunchtime…"

"Hmm… That's strange, lunch isn't for another hour…"

"… Friday."

Gokudera and Yamamoto gaped at him. "Tenth! You can't starve yourself!"

"That isn't good for your health!" Yamamoto lifted the small teen into his arms, ignoring his yelp. "I'll carry you to my place and we'll eat there! Then we'll stay the night at Gokudera's."

"Fine." Gokudera growled. He stuffed Tsuna's things into a bag and followed them out; he paused in the doorway. "Hey, Tenth… is it alright to leave that thing alone here?" He glared at the bed.

Yamamoto blanched at the broken look in Tsuna's eyes at Gokudera's words. "He's… not here anymore… He left Friday…"

Gokudera's glare widened and then narrowed. _That bastard_!

Yamamoto smiled down at Tsuna. "I'm pretty sure he'll be back." He still remembered the look in the thing's eyes when it had seen Tsuna for the first time. No one who looked at another like that would leave so easily. He would know. "Maybe he just has something to do."

"Something he couldn't get done in _two days_?" Gokudera spat. "Fuck him! Let's just get out of here before that old hag gets back!"

"Gotcha!"

Tsuna sighed and shut his eyes; for the first time since Friday, he fell asleep to the thrum of Yamamoto's heart; no wonder Mukuro was so easily lulled to rest whenever he rested his head on Tsuna's chest…

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Hello, my pretties~<p>

Yes, Mukuro did just leave… and Gokudera and Yamamoto had a really random conversation that I realized didn't sound so great the second time around (oh well). Otherwise, guess what? This chapter is _seven pages long_! Usually, I average about four…

Anywho, bad news, my lovlies – I will be gone for three weeks. It's for a program and I won't be bringing my laptop, so I won't be able to update any of my stories (that hurts me as much as I think it might hurt you). I'm sorry! I love you all!


	12. The Hope

**MONTH OLD TOY DYNASTY MOVING INTO NAMIMORI**

_A month ago from today, a sole proprietorship manufacturing toys mysteriously sprouted in Rome, Italy. Since that time, the unknown business has grown into a toy dynasty, known in over 39 countries as 'T.S. Happily Ever After'. _

_Recently, the company has begun construction in the abandoned mall center, formerly known as 'Kokuyo Land'. Kokuyo Land, having been previously shut down and then later destroyed by an earthquake, will now be turned into the first 'T.S. Happily Ever After' branch in Japan. _

_The person behind the creation of the dynasty has yet to be reached for an interview. There was no possibility of catching a photo of the unnamed CEO as well. _

* * *

><p>What a day… Nearly nine months after he had received the package containing a seed that would turn out to be Mukuro. And four years to the day since his baby brother died.<p>

He stared at the clock next to Gokudera's bed; since about a month ago when Mukuro had left, he had been hiding with his friend, knowing that it most likely made his mother happier to never have to see him. In about another hour, his mother should be done at the cemetery. It had become tradition for her to go to Lambo's grave and set out breakfast, lunch, and dinner for him, chattering on and on as if she had fooled herself into believing he was still alive. She never leaves until after 10 at night.

He waited, eyes dry and expression grim, if he waited another half hour, he could get to Namimori cemetery an hour or so after her departure and then there would be no risk of running into her.

"Hey, Tenth…" Gokudera stood in the doorway, gazing at his friend with great concern. "Please let me come with you."

Tsuna smiled tiredly at the silverette. "I'm sorry, Gokudera… but I just really want to do it by myself this year…" Which was a lie, but he didn't want to drag them with him. Having them there, he would feel as if he was being accused instead of comforted, as if he was mocking his dead brother by bringing his own friends along.

"See, Gokudera?" Yamamoto arrived and threw a careless arm over the other teen's shoulders, smiling somewhat sadly. "He can do this by himself."

"Idiot!" Gokudera snarled, shoving his elbow back into the baseball player's belly. "Don't be so familiar with me!"

Tsuna stared at them, aware that something had changed between them since a month ago. That, and – since he was living with Gokudera – he had come to suspect that they might have something a little more than reluctant (or reluctant on Gokudera's end, anyway) friendship. But he was most likely wrong…

Yamamoto was overly friendly with everyone and Gokudera liked to beat Yamamoto as much as he liked to beat everyone… hell, maybe even a bit more.

"Alright, if you need us, we'll be at my place, kay?" Yamamoto grinned comfortingly.

Tsuna couldn't help but feel that Yamamoto and Gokudera were substituting for his parents, always being so considerate and caring… "Okay."

"We'll see you in the morning, Tenth."

They left him alone, finally. Tsuna listened as the front door opened and shut, a lock clicking into place. He sighed and lied back down, staring at the clock as if he could make time go by faster.

He made his way carefully among the gravestones, unable to feel the terror he had once been enveloped by whenever he had entered the cemetery after dark.

He wasn't afraid anymore because the last time he had been afraid of the dead, Lambo had been afraid with him. It had been Halloween and Reborn had been particularly angry at both of them; instead of taking them home after a failed outing with Tsuna's other friends, the tutor/baby sitter had dumped them in a graveyard and had then drove off. He hadn't come back until the early hours of the morning. His amused smirk as he had found them both, shivering and half-mad with fear, still haunted Tsuna.

He made his way along, not bothering to be in a hurry; Lambo wouldn't be going anywhere. Midnight was still a good while away, so it was still Lambo's anniversary.

He stared up at the sky; for March weather, it was as cold as December. He huddled into his coat as he stared at the heavy, pale gray clouds above. The temperature throughout the day had been cold, now that he thought about it…

For a moment, he wondered if his mom was okay, having spent her entire day in the cold weather with no source of warm but maybe the food she had brought with her and her coat. And then the moment was over; she would be happier if he didn't think about her.

He ran a hand through his unruly locks as he edged deeper into the chilly night. Lambo's grave came into sight.

He stopped short, startled by what he also saw in sight. There, at Lambo's grave, was a large mass. It was too large to be his mom's and he had no clue whom else it could be. Maybe it was a stray animal that had caught the scent of his mom's cooking?

The mass shifted, as if it could feel him watching it. He couldn't make it out in the darkness, but he somehow knew it was looking at him.

"… Tsuna?"

In that moment, the world crashed and the nebula imploded. Or maybe that was all within his own mind and heart… "D-dad?"

"So it is you…"

He wasn't sure what to do; run away or run towards the man he hadn't seen in nearly four years. "W-what are you doing here?" He trembled where he stood.

"You wanna come closer? It's hard to talk with you when you're so far away."

He didn't know what he wanted to do… Nonetheless, he moved unsurely forward until he could make out the blonde of his dad's hair and his muscular build. He was, surprisingly enough, not wearing his familiar orange jumpsuit or boxers with a shirt. He wore somber black clothes that made him look younger than he was and yet the look in his eyes – that Tsuna could only see as he came even closer – made him look ancient.

Iemetsu smiled tiredly. "How's it been going?"

"… W-why'd you leave?" His hands clenched at his side. "When we needed you, why the hell did you leave us alone?"

The smile died instantly. "I knew this was coming."

"Damn straight this was coming! You left us before they even buried Lambo in the ground and you never came home since! It's been hell at home! We've needed you there, but you never once showed up!"

"I know." It was strange how demure his dad was; he was usually so outspoken and confident, rather lazy and mostly a happy drunk. It was weird that he was before Tsuna now, dressed properly with not even the faintest hint of alcohol in his voice or on his skin. "And I know that you've needed me more than others."

"Th-that's not true! Mom's needed you more than me!" And, in that way, he had needed his dad most. If even for a moment that his dad could have made his mom look at him like a son again, he wouldn't feel the way he did. "She still needs you!"

"You're a good kid, Tsuna." His dad stood up and came towards him, a tall, broad form that easily towered over Tsuna and then some. "I've talked to Dino a few times… he says Nana is… blaming _you_ for what happened."

He flinched and looked guiltily away. "W-well…" He really didn't have anything he could say to that. "Hiiee!" He blinked owlishly as he was enveloped by furnace-like heat, suffocated by a steely body as his dad hugged him for the first time in years.

"I'm sorry, Tsuna… I was so busy blaming myself that I didn't think about you guys…"

"B-blaming yourself?" But, _why_?

"You weren't there, Tsuna. Hell, you weren't even _close_ to being there; some Russian could have beaten you to Italy by five hours." He chuckled humorlessly. "I was there… I was three feet away, telling him to catch up with Reborn while I talked to a shop owner who I can't remember the name of. And in between the 12 feet separating me and Reborn, a wannabe mobster rolled down his window and began shooting at random." He buried his face into Tsuna's hair. "It's not your fault, Tsuna… There was nothing _you_ could have done."

"… Why? Why tell me this_ now_? Why show up _now_?" Tsuna whispered, his throat constricting. Those were the words he had wanted to hear for so very long… for so few and yet so very long years… He finally had it; his own father was telling him what he had always suspected but had never been able to believe. _"It's not your fault." _Beautiful words… But why couldn't Iemetsu have told him earlier? _Years_ earlier?

The giant of a man laughed again, the sound a roar and yet it was a hollow echo to Tsuna who felt that the emotions usually supporting the noise were absent. "You wanna know the truth? I don't have a clue. I woke up this morning, stared at a bottle of wine for a couple of hours, and then flew down here without really thinking about it. It was just time to finally see my boys."

Tsuna couldn't help but notice that his father used the plural form of 'boy', as if he had wanted to see both of them instead of just Lambo. Despite how bad it made him feel, he also felt happiness.

Iemetsu put a hand on his shoulder and the other on the grave. "It was just time."

"… Is it time to see Mom too?" His voice was a hoarse whisper. Despite himself, he tangled his hands in his dad's shirt, reluctant to let go. "She really… needs you…" Maybe if she had him around, she would want Tsuna back too.

"No, she really needs Lambo. But Lambo won't be coming back, Tsuna. He's gone and it's not your fault." Iemetsu squeezed him tightly; Tsuna could feel his heartbeat against his cheek, strong and steady. "It's my fault. Hell, it's the thugs' faults for deciding to shoot him. If we want to go all the way, we can just blame the entire universe for making that the day we went out on the town and that street the one where Lambo wasn't attached to someone's leg." His voice was so bitter, it was scathing. "But it was not your fault. That I can vouch for."

Tsuna looked at Lambo's grave over his dad's bulging bicep, seeing through the grass and dirt to the tiny coffin beneath, the horrific image of a decomposed 5-year old boy coming to mind.

"_But, big brother! You have to come with us!" _Lambo had stood there, tiny hands clenched at his cow-print clad hips, fiery green eyes tearing up. Reborn had been at the doorway, cell phone in hand as he talked to their grandfather. _"You gotta!" _

"_But it was not your fault." _

Lambo's infuriating and yet heart-warming smirk replaced the 5-year old corpse in his thoughts. "If it wasn't my fault…" His voice was hoarse. "Then it couldn't have been your fault, either… because if I can't fly across countries to take Lambo's place, you can't see into the future and stop bullets."

Iemetsu laughed again, the roar sounding a little more real than his last bellow. "Let's just say that it's time to stop blaming ourselves. Lambo would call us crybabies if he saw us like this, being all self-pitying."

Tsuna couldn't stop the nervous laughter that spilled over his lips. He startled at the sound; he couldn't remember having ever laughed harder in the past four years, though he could vaguely remember some close-calls. "Yeah, dad… you're right."

He could see Lambo in his mind's eye, standing short and proud as he mocked Tsuna for crying while on the verge of tears himself. Yeah, he would have called them both whiners had he been alive to see them.

* * *

><p>"So when Tsuna comes through the door, we'll all scream 'welcome home!', and then we'll jump out of our hiding places – "<p>

"Idiot! We jump out of our hiding places and _then_ we scream 'welcome home!'"

"THIS IS EXTREME!"

"Hahi! Tsuna will be so happy when he sees the cake Kyoko and I made!"

"Mmhm! We made it with only the best ingredients."

"Stupid girls! This is his little brother's anniversary, not the Tenth's birthday! Don't be so inconsiderate!"

"Hahi! Well, stupid man, what's with hiding and then jumping out at him? That's what people do at birthdays!"

"At birthdays, they scream 'happy birthday!'. We're saying 'Welcome home!'. We're doing this to make him feel better, not to rub it in his face that his brother's dead!"

There was a small, heartbroken moment.

"Mah mah, Gokudera, that was a little harsh…"

"Octupus-head, respect women TO THE LIMIT!"

"U-um, guys…"

"Hah hah! Oi, Shoichi's back!"

"Who're calling Octupus-head, Lawn-head?"

"YOU WANNA SETTLE THIS LIKE MEN?"

"Wait, Tsuna's on his way here – "

"Bring it on!"

"Gokudera – "

'_Crash!' 'Boom!' 'Shatter!'_

The door creaked open, a terrified Tsuna on the other side. What was going _on_?

The first person to greet him was the mousy redhead, Shoichi. He was, for one reason or another, bent over with his arms wrapped around his belly, the blonde Spanner leaning over him and rubbing his back. The blonde was murmuring something about how 'cute' it was that he got stomach aches when he was nervous.

"Welcome home, Tsuna!" Haru and Kyoko collectively cornered him at the door, faces suggesting that there was nothing wrong as they held out a small, lavishly decorated cake to him.

Beyond them, Gokudera's apartment had been trashed, the table turned over and walls demolished along with blood stains on the floor and some broken glasses. It was a lucky thing Gokudera didn't own much.

"T-Tenth!" The silverette caught sight of him from where a dog-pile had formed in the entrance way between the bedroom and the living room/kitchen. "Welcome ho – gah!" Ryohei's fist caught in the jaw. "Bastard!"

"EXTREME WELCOME, TSUNAAAA!"

"Hah hah! Tsuna!" Yamamoto was also part of the dog-pile, but he seemed to be the only one trying to break said pile apart, somehow in the middle of it. "Welcome home!"

"W-welcome home, Tsunay-yoshi…" Shoichi tried to smile through his pain; it ended up looking like a grimace. Spanner lazily waved at him and muttered a 'yo' before turning back to the redhead and soothingly brushed his hand through his hair. The bespectacled teen smiled nervously at the attention.

Tsuna took a moment to take this all in, not quite understanding what he was seeing. If he hadn't known any better, they were celebrating his birthday on the anniversary of his brother's death, which wasn't such a great thought. Be that as it may…

He ducked his head as his shoulders began to shake.

"Gah! You bastards, you've made the Tenth cry! All of you, _out of my apartment_! Tenth? Tenth! Are you alright?"

"Hah hah, wait, Gokudera; I don't think he's crying."

"Tsuna?" Kyoko curiously tilted her head.

"Hahi! Are you okay?" Haru rested a hand on the brunette's shoulder.

"Mmph… Tsch… Hah hah hah!" He couldn't hold it back any more. He grabbed his belly and laughed like he couldn't remember doing for a very long time.

For a long moment, everyone stared at him as if he had lost his mind. And then Yamamoto chuckled, followed by Haru and Kyoko, and then Spanner and Shoichi smiled. Gokudera stared with awe and Ryohei took the moment to throw his knee into the stunned silverette's belly, which surprisingly drew no reaction.

Tsuna wiped a tear from his eye, finally gasping for breath. "I'm glad that I have you guys for a family…" His smile was so radiant and so, for the first time in years, _real_ that Gokudera's bottom lip quivered.

"Gokudera?" Yamamoto whispered into his ear. "Are you okay?" He rubbed the silverette's back, already knowing the reason.

"… _You wanted to make sure he kept smiling?" _Tsuna was smiling; he was smiling like they were the center of his newly reconstructed world, his eyes warm as he accepted the cake from Haru and Kyok and then was kissed by both of them on opposing cheeks.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be fine? Fuck you, I'm not a crybaby!" Gokudera strangled Ryohei in retaliation, which was strange because it had been Yamamoto to invoke him.

"You wanna play that way, huh? EXTREME!"

"Hiieee! Gokudera! Big brother! Please stop fighting!" Tsuna rushed after the two rolling forms (three if Yamamoto could be counted for being dragged along) before they could hurt themselves further.

"You're so cute, Tsuna." Kyoko laughed softly. "You're always taking such great care of your friends."

"I remember all over again why I fell in love with you!" Haru cried out, reminding everyone of the crush she had had on Tsuna after he had saved her from drowning following being forced to drink an adrenaline shot from his tutor despite his own inability to swim.

Tsuna finally managed to tear the group apart, panting harshly as Ryohei marched right back into the living room/kitchen and began asking Spanner and Shoichi about how good of fighters they were, all but terrifying Shoichi.

Tsuna had Yamamoto's head on his shoulder, the baseball player humming happily after having heard his friend's laughter, and Gokudera's possibly broken arm in both of his hands as he probed uncertainly (he had no clue what he was looking for, but Gokudera looked so hopeful that he would be the one to help him) for shattered bones.

"Tenth…" Gokudera murmured quietly, drawing the brunette's wide-eyed attention. "… Welcome home."

Tsuna smiled for him. "I'm home."

* * *

><p>Author's Note - I'm back! Did you miss me?<p> 


	13. The Questions

Nana had been happy to see her husband after four years. He must have come back because their no-good son was gone.

Imagine how quickly her bliss had turned to hatred when he had tried to tell her that their son wasn't to blame, that they could still welcome him home and end their mourning. He actually _smiled_ and tried to embrace her, ancient love in his eyes.

She had shoved him to the side, opened the door, and told him to get out. She would not share her bed with someone who would _support_ the no-good bastard that had cost her so much.

He had left, his last murmured words haunting her. _"If you change your mind, we'll come back." _'We', as if one wouldn't come back with the other.

Even though it was far past midnight, so early the sky outside was turning pale, she continued to sit at the kitchen table, brooding over what he had said; not his offer, but that their son was _innocent_. Obviously, he wasn't! If he had been there with Lambo, he could have protected him! Instead, he had been at a friend's house… A _friend's_ house. Could friends be more important than family?

She turned and tossed the thoughts in her head, ice forming in her heart. And then his last words before he had tried to hold her: _"It's time for us to move on." _To move on? _Never_. Their son was _dead_. As long as he remained _dead_, she was _never_ going to forgive that horrible boy or stop weeping for her lost baby.

Sometime towards late afternoon, someone knocked on her door. She stood from the stool and then nearly fell, her legs numb from how long she had been still, before recollecting herself. She smoothed out her skirt and hair, pushed back her shoulders, and then went to greet the visitor with the aura of a woman who had truly lost everything. Though she wore green and blue, she might as well have been dressed like a widow.

She opened the door a sliver, looking at the stranger before her with no particular welcome.

The man was tall, shoulders broad beneath a black trench coat with fringed shoulders. He had long blue hair fashioned with a partial sum of it sticking out from the top of his head and the rest flowing down his back. His skin was pale like alabaster, flawless. He wore a white shirt beneath his coat and leather pants with thigh-high boots. On his hands were black leather gloves.

Yet, despite his devilish handsomeness and oddly attractive attire, her eyes were immediately drawn to his duo-colored gaze, one orb a scarlet red and the opposing one cobalt blue.

The man smiled coldly down at her and she felt as if more than her heart was made of ice in that moment. "Kufufufu~ you wouldn't happen to know where Tsuna is, would you?"

* * *

><p>It had hurt like a bitch, but at least he got it out of the way.<p>

For the past few hours, he had been trying to hide from the prefect, unwilling to take the beatings for his unexcused absences. However, Hibari being a 'carnivore' and Tsuna a lowly 'herbivore', the skylark found him nonetheless.

Now he was crawling to the roof, pain throbbing throughout his entire body as he dragged himself up another flight of stairs that would eventually lead him to the highest level of the building.

He sighed in bliss as his foot touched the top of the last rise, shoulders shivering with the sheer energy it took to get so far. He lifted his gaze from his uncertain feet to the happenings around him. It being lunch, the hallways were mostly empty. 'Mostly' being the key word.

At the opposite end of the hall, another teen boy, most likely a year older than him, came to attention and met his gaze. For a full minute, Tsuna had no clue why the teen's eyes immediately filled with malicious anger upon sighting him.

And then his mind produced an image of a boy for him who had, four years ago, taken to beating him worse than Hibari had ever needed to. It hadn't been because Tsuna was supposedly the one to blame for his brother's death, but because he had kicked the guy's ass at his own sport, him being the captain of the Kendo club, a few months prior to his little brother's demise. Lambo's death had only been his excuse.

On the heels of that realization came the epiphany that he was _so_ dead if he didn't start running… _now_. Because the other teen – _Mochida_, he distantly remembered his name to be – was closing in on him.

How he had avoided the teen for four years was beyond his understanding; maybe the presence of Ryohei and Yamamoto, both of them excellent at their own sports, (and most likely Gokudera because he was scary… well, all the time) had kept him at bay. Perhaps Tsuna had just been lucky in that he had never had any classes close to the other teen. Who _knew_ how he had avoided the boy for so long.

All he knew was that his luck had officially run dry. For one, he was in too much pain to run. For two, Mochida had broken into a gallop, heading straight towards him with a demeaning sneer written out in his features.

"Hiiieee!" He stumbled backwards. It went to show how terrible his day was turning out to be that he was still standing at the head of the stairs as he lost his footing. "Gaaaah!"

Had he been aware of the whispered footsteps coming up behind him, maybe he wouldn't have flailed his arms wildly in hopes of somehow regaining balance. Maybe he wouldn't have simultaneously jerked his body backwards in the opposing hope of not getting caught by the fist flying straight towards his lean belly as Mochida snickered, the teen also seeming to notice his soon-to-occur fall.

Then again, 'maybes' never did cut it.

His fist collided with a broad shoulder, the rest of his body soon following. He landed with a solid 'oof' against a strangely still chest. His luck was suddenly changing; neither he nor the person behind him fell down the remaining stairs, remaining standing. In front of him, Mochida's snickers turned into a dissatisfied growl. "Who're you?" He snapped at whoever Tsuna had impacted with.

Tsuna peeked open one eye, tilting his head slowly up to get a glimpse of his hero. The first thing he noticed were dark blue tresses tickling his cheek…

Both of his eyes snapped open, jaw going slack.

"Oya~ me? Oh, I am just a concerned acquaintance of Tsunayoshi~ you see, I have permission from the main office to take him home with me. And here I am, finding that my cute little Tsuna is being bullied…" The man tutted the teen, as if utterly disappointed with him.

"Mukuro?" The breathless whisper slipped from Tsuna's lips before he could even stop himself.

An arm wrapped around his waist and held securely. "Hello, Tsunayoshi." Duo-colored eyes met his teasingly, the cold smile that had twisted his features a moment ago softening immediately. "Did you miss me?"

Mochida took a careful step backwards. After a moment, he smirked. "Oh, so I see how it is…" He spoke with the tone of one who was about to say something very insulting. "You're no-good Tsuna's _pimp_!"

Whatever Tsuna had felt a moment ago – maybe anger at having been abandoned in the first place, relief at seeing Mukuro again, and perhaps happiness – died as shock overcame him. _What_?

"Oya~ his pimp? No, no…" Mukuro purred, smile sharp and deadly yet again as he slid his narrowed eyes back to the other boy. "He's my everything~" He reached out a leather-clad hand towards Mochida. "Which makes you absolutely nothing to me… well, maybe I could consider you _food_." With that last word uttered, the fingertips of his gloves were ripped, giving way to…

Tsuna mentally died as the roots reached out towards the now pale and stupefied teenager. _What the hell was Mukuro thinking? _

Mochida didn't have time to run away; his eyes rolled into the back of his head the moment one of the roots touched his cheek, body sagging as he sank almost in slow motion to the floor.

"Kufufufu~ I wander if he pissed his pants too." Mukuro withdrew his hand, glaring down at the still body.

Had Tsuna not known that Mochida had just fainted from cold terror, he would have thought that Mukuro had killed him.

"Now!" Mukuro turned Tsuna towards him, backing down a step so they were eye-to-eye. "You never did answer my question." He was smiling warmly again. His ability to change expressions so quickly made Tsuna pause as he tried to keep up with the situation. "Did you miss me?"

A thousand thoughts bombarded him at the same time in reply to that simple question. He wanted to start yelling a the man for leaving him, he wanted to start screaming about how broken and frustrated he had been to wake up alone, he wanted to maybe start crying for feeling like he had been abandoned all over again, he wanted to beat the plant black and blue for bothering to come back right when he started to feel like himself again, he wanted to ask a dozen or so questions on why Mukuro had left to begin with or why he was at his school or maybe even how he had found him to begin with, and he wanted to – …

Yeah, he was going to go with that because he can ask questions later and beat Mukuro up a little after that perhaps.

"Of course I did, you idiot!" He shouted, right before stupidly throwing himself at the man with intentions of squeezing the hell out of him. Of course, he forgot to take the staircase into account as he leaped.

Mukuro caught his weight and didn't make one complaint as they teetered backwards and then, with a pivot of Mukuro's heel, crashed into the floor at the bottom of the one set of stairs instead of painfully sliding down all the steps. There was no breaking of bones on contact or even the slightest 'thwak' that insinuated that something hard had hit the stone. There was only a soft landing, Mukuro not showing the slightest bit of discomfort as he wrapped both arms around Tsuna and smiled into his unruly hair.

Tsuna was far from questioning strange and unusual happenings when it came to the creature.

"So I'm an idiot now?" Mukuro cooed.

"Yeah!" He growled. "A huge one. And if you leave again, I'm going to – !" But what would he do? What _could_ he do? He had never been one for making threats. Since he had nothing to say, he let himself trail off, hoping that his silence would be foreboding enough.

Mukuro laughed. "I understand, Tsunayoshi." He petted his spine. "I won't be leaving you anytime soon."

* * *

><p>Gokudera was getting antsy. 15 minutes into lunch, there was no sign of his most beloved friend.<p>

"Mah mah, Gokudera, you need to stop worrying so much. He can take care of himself!" Meanwhile, his _not_ so beloved friend was laughing into his ear like the sick bastard he was.

He didn't care what kind of relationship they had; Yamamoto was _not_ allowed to mock him when he was so clearly upset! With that said (or thought), he shoved his elbow into the baseball star's belly, sending the taller teen into the cement floor with a surprised gasp of pain. "Idiot! What if something bad happened to him? It's been 15 – _no_," he changed his story as he glanced at his watch "_16_ minutes! I knew I shouldn't have let him leave the classroom alone!" He paced the roof nervously.

Yamamoto good-naturedly said nothing as he sat back up and patiently let Gokudera fret.

After a few more minutes, Gokudera's expression proved to darken only more as the small brunette remained missing. "… What if we went looking for him?" Yamamoto waited to see how the question was taken.

"Idiot!" Gokudera slapped him upside the head.

"Gokudera, what was that for?" The taller of the two rubbed the injured spot, giving the other a kicked-puppy expression. Gokudera's features drew together in an inwardly-directed scowl that Yamamoto had come to understand, over time, as the look the silverette wore when he was silently berating himself for nothing thinking of an idea first.

"You don't need to know! Just get your lazy ass up and let's look for him!"

Yamamoto smartly refrained from pointing out how that sounded a lot like what he had said. "Gotcha!"

"I'll check in the building and you look outside." Gokudera growled. "You can take the shortcut." He pointed over the ledge of the building.

"Hah hah! You're funny, Gokudera." Yamamoto patted his lover's head and walked for the safer way to exit the building. "Oh, and Gokudera?"

"What?"

"Have I told you today how much I love you?"

"W-what? Keep that stuff to yourself!" The silverette's cheeks became defiantly pink, even as he glared malignantly at the taller boy.

Yamamoto laughed and left ahead of him, disappearing down the staircase.

Gokudera stayed behind another moment, getting over the small moment of embarrassment. Yamamoto had the habit of catching him off guard, always saying silly, _girly_ things like _love_. He considered himself lucky to get away without a farewell kiss.

Had Tsuna been there, Yamamoto wouldn't have bothered to assault him with his _affections_, Gokudera reminded himself. Thinking that, he very quickly remembered what he was supposed to be doing. "Damn that idiot!" He ran off the roof, leaping down the stairs and then racing down the hall at top speed. "TEEENNTH!" Whatever classes were in session be damned. He had to find his best friend!

He went to the closest staircase there was (he stepped on an unconscious body, uncaring for the familiar boy) – only to stop suddenly and with great surprise. His surprise morphed instantly into boiling hatred.

At the bottom of the last flight of stairs, Yamamoto had taken a seat across from Tsuna and someone who Gokudera would not have known the identity to… if not for those damnable duo-colored eyes.

Those _fucking_ eyes that he wanted to rip out and throw on the ground. What the hell was that creature doing near his Tenth after hurting him so badly?

He growled, the sound carrying down to the small party.

Yamamoto was the first to look up at him, realization dawning in his eyes without even having to follow the direction of Gokudera's glare. "Mah mah, Gokudera, don't get angry yet!" He got to his feet and stood protectively in front of the man and the gawking brunette.

"Idiot! Get out of my way! Don't you remember how we found Tenth after that bastard left him?" Gokudera stormed down the steps, going right up to Yamamoto and trying to shove him aside.

He wasn't weak by any standard – Gokudera, that was. He wasn't sports-oriented either. Yamamoto, who spent hours a day training for his damnable game of _baseball_, could not be shoved aside no matter how much the silverette tried.

"Wait, Gokudera. Mukuro was just telling me why he left! He had a good reason." Yamamoto tried to placate him. He was wise not to lay a hand on the silverette, knowing all too well what that would cause.

"There is no good enough reason for leaving Tenth! You were there when we found him, he was half dead! That wouldn't have happened if he had just stayed." He hated that he actually had to make a hypocrite of himself, taking the grounds that the creature should have never left while he had not too long ago demanded that he die. But his presence had made Tsuna happy; his absence had nearly killed him. There wasn't much of a fight he could put up against that logic.

"G-Gokudera!" Tsuna was quick to get to his feet, running to Yamamoto's side and placing a gentle hand on his arm. His touch, unlike Yamamoto's, was welcomed in the situation. "I was angry too. And I'm still angry! I hated feeling abandoned all over again…"

The brunette's admission made Gokudera's heart melt into a pulverized puddle of pain. "Tenth…"

"But he was just telling us why he left… and it _is_ a decent excuse…"

"Yeah, an _excuse_!" He flinched at the snappy tone he had taken with his best friend. Tsuna paled as well.

Yamamoto was frighteningly serious in the background.

"Oya~ if my presence is going to cause that much trouble with you, then I suppose I will just kidnap Tsunayoshi now and save myself the trouble of explaining my actions to you."

"_What_?"

"Mukuro, please don't bait Gokudera…" Tsuna whined.

Yamamoto's hands twitched, fingers curling in Gokudera's direction but falling short of grabbing him.

"Ah, but he gets angry so easily…" The creature came to his feet, unbothered by the chaos his presence had caused. "You see, Gokudera, I did not leave on a whim. I had a formulated plan when I left and a goal to return."

"And you couldn't tell Tenth that _why_?" Gokudera was unwilling to drop the subject. Then again, the bastard deserved to have his every action questioned till he ran out of answers and fumbled around like a fool.

"Oya~" Mukuro purred, "why I didn't tell him was because I wanted him to miss me!" He grinned like pure innocence.

Tsuna sighed, shoulders sagging in exhaustion. Yamamoto laughed awkwardly. Gokudera snarled.

"I'm going to stuff a stick of dynamite up your _ass_ and light it."

"Gokudera…" Tsuna squeezed his wrist, eyebrows drawing together.

"Listen to him, octopus~" Mukuro taunted.

"You son of a bi-"

"Gokudera!"

"But, Tenth! _He_ started it!"

"Yeah, well I'm going to finish it! I understand that you're mad, but please… I don't want anyone to fight today."

Gokudera's hands clenched at his sides. His lips curled in a scowl and he was more than tempted to continue assaulting the fucking _plant_. But Tsuna was looking up at him with so much hope in his caramel gaze, lips even wordlessly forming the plea for him to keep his cool…

He looked behind Tsuna to where Yamamoto stood. The baseball player met his gaze squarely, copper brown eyes telling the silverette that, yes, it was time to put down his weapons and just _be there_ for Tsuna instead of being his shield.

"… What were your reasons for leaving?" The words left him in one low growl.

Tsuna relaxed next to him, relief obvious in his expression. Yamamoto grinned like the idiot he was and moved closer to Gokudera's side, taking a position just inches in front of him so he could counter him if he decided to attack the creature after all.

Mukuro smirked. "Kufufufu~ I guess you can control yourself… somewhat." Before Gokudera could snap back at him, Mukuro continued on. "I left so I could make a living for Tsunayoshi and me. There was no chance of my leaving him to live with that unworthy woman."

"Really?" Gokudera drawled. He left it unsaid that that was _exactly_ what he had done.

Yamamoto shifted closer and, hidden by the closeness of their bodies, caressed his hand over Gokudera's lower back. The silverette tensed, unable to react with Tsuna so closely watching him for his reaction and yet also instantly finding himself wanting to relax… which only made him _more_ pissed.

Mukuro's eyes narrowed on them, as if he knew exactly what was going on. Instead of commenting, he ignored them. "I read every book I could get my hands on and, while at the… what is it called? Ah, the _library_, I came across an old man who offered me a ticket to Italy if I would do some things for him." The way he said 'old man' and 'do some things' instantly made Gokudera's stomach clench in foreboding. "Of course, being new to this world, I accepted without actually thinking of what things these would be." Tsuna's face was ghostly pale. Yamamoto was waiting. "I remember my promise of not harming anyone unless provoked, so please forgive me," there wasn't the slightest note of guilt in his voice as he tilted his head towards Tsuna "when I say that I reacted strongly when I finally figured out what he was speaking of."

"Did you kill him?" Gokudera hissed.

"I didn't _kill_ him… he just hasn't woken up yet. In the meantime, I used his money and the ticket to make a small business in Italy. Soon, I realized that humans enjoyed the trinkets that I made. It wasn't long after that my business began to grow at an alarming rate, becoming one of the top 10 manufacturers of my branch." He offered a moment for that to sink in.

Tsuna was most likely still caught at the part where the old man hadn't woken up yet, not seeming at all impressed with Mukuro's progress as he gawked. Yamamoto appeared more interested, nodding and grinning along.

Gokudera glared at him. "And what 'trinkets' were you making that were so god damned popular?" At the top of the stairs, he swore he heard the unconscious boy moan.

Mukuro smirked. "_Toys_."

"Toys, huh?" Yamamoto cocked his head curiously. "What kind of toys?"

The man only grinned wider. He took off one glove – Gokudera took note of the ripped fingertips – and spread his fingers wide.

Gokudera cursed while Yamamoto and Tsuna offered no reaction to the roots that stretched out from the man's hand. One by one, Mukuro plucked them off and then placed them in his closed palms. Minutes later, he opened his hands to let them see the thumb-sized toy he had created, looking more like a voodoo doll with how simplistic its design was.

Gokudera snorted; people paid for shit like _that_?

"Kufufufu~ would you like to dance for me?"

Simultaneously, Tsuna, Gokudera, and Yamamoto jerked backwards away from the man with varying sounds of surprise as the doll in Mukuro's hands trembled and then got to its toeless feet, kicking its shapeless legs and swinging its handless arms as if caught in the throes of a song. Its hairless head bobbed.

"What the fuck did you do to it?" Gokudera finally growled.

Yamamoto was quick to hide his shock, instead replacing it with happy curiosity. Nonetheless, he stayed in front of the silverette. "Hah hah! That looks neat!"

Tsuna gulped, eyes glued to the small thing.

Mukuro ignored both of the other teens as he turned to the brunette. "Would you like to play with it? It won't hurt you, I swear." He waited.

They all waited.

Tsuna hesitantly reached out to the small doll, fingers twitching just slightly. With his hand hovering over Mukuro's, the living toy suddenly leaped and attached itself to his thumb. "Hiiieee!"

"Bastard! Get that thing off of Tenth!"

"Mah mah, Gokudera, I don't think it's doing anything bad."

True to Yamamoto's words, the toy only contently held onto the brunette, doing nothing more and nothing less. Tsuna blinked in awe and then looked up at Mukuro.

"Kufufufufu~ I suppose it likes you, Tsunayoshi." Mukuro tickled the toy's back. With the slight touch, the tiny mass of roots reverted back to its original strands, falling motionlessly into the man's palm. "People like my toys because they… come alive." Mukuro spread his hands apart in a gesture of 'magic'. "Though what I manufacture isn't so crude in shape."

"Hah hah! That's cool." Yamamoto grinned airily at him.

"Well, if you were getting rich so fucking fast, why didn't you come back sooner?" Gokudera fought.

"Because I am a CEO of my own company. A newly born company at that. Had I left and never returned, my goals to support Tsunayoshi would have been for naught, am I correct? No, I had to wait until I could branch out here."

Yamamoto snapped his fingers and then slammed his fist into his open palm, a light dawning in his eyes. "Kokuyo land!"

"Huh?" Gokudera sneered questioningly at him.

"It was in the newspaper."

"You mean the old mall area?" Tsuna tilted his head.

"Yes." Mukuro purred. "That is where I'm building my new factory. Of course, I will have to remain here to oversee construction… and then I will stay here afterwards, seeing as how I am also having a house built near the factory for my convenience." He brushed a hand through Tsuna's hair. "I would be happy if you decided to live with me."

"Go fuck yourself!" Gokudera snapped. "Tenth's staying with me and he's happy where he is, right, Tenth?" He swung his gaze to the brunette, eyes melting as they landed on the smaller teen.

Tsuna looked from Gokudera to Mukuro. Nervously, he nibbled his bottom lip. "Well… I _am_ staying with Gokudera right now…" He stared at his fiddling hands, situated in his lap.

Yamamoto pouted at Gokudera. Mukuro was staring at Gokudera too, but the expression on his face couldn't quite be defined as a _pout_… more like he was trying to kill the silverette with just his narrowed eyes and dangerously pursed smirk.

Tsuna stared at his feet, hands folded in his lap, and nearly broke Gokudera's heart when he hunched his shoulders forward and mumbled something incoherent beneath his breath.

"What was that?"

Tsuna, his savior, his best friend, his loveable Tenth, looked at the creature from the corner of his eyes and murmured just a little louder, "'M sorry…"

Yamamoto was still pouting at Gokudera. Even though Mukuro wasn't looking at him anymore, he could tell that the thing was still death glaring him… _somehow_. But it was Tsuna's downcast appearance that made him bite his tongue. And he bit it till it bled because he did _not_ like what he was about to say.

"_But_… if the Tenth would be h-happy… with _you_," he pronounced 'you' as if it were the worst curse imaginable, "then I suppose he can stay with you… on the weekends! Only the weekends." He narrowed his eyes threateningly. "I don't trust you."

"Kufufu~ I know you don't. I don't trust you either."

He gnashed his teeth together. "_What_?"

"Well, you _did_ try to kill me when I wasn't even old enough to defend myself."

Tension ran high between them. Agreeable dislike.

Yamamoto was beaming, still staring at Gokudera. Tsuna looked painfully hopeful.

And then Gokudera's glare magnified. "I have one question left for you… _one_. Can you answer it?"

"I wouldn't know; I may have many skills, but telepathy isn't one of them."

He growled but then let the anger drain till it was only the clenching of his hands. He had that bastard cornered.

"How did you meet Lambo?"

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Sorry for the late update! I know I said I would update soon, but then when I went to look at my draft, I realized I had caught up with myself… Because, like I had been saying all along, I had had most of this story prewritten before posting it. Well, from now on, I think my updates are going to be further apart… and I'm a little scared because I haven't winged it like this for a long time.<p>

Anywho! Next chapter's going to be a challenge for me… however! Mukuro is BACK! And Gokudera asks the thousand dollar question… Oooh.


	14. The Distance

That woman he had had on his arm the night before the fatal crime, he remembered her breasts with unblemished clarity. Her face was not so fresh in his memory, nor her ravenous voice as he had sex with her, or even how her body had felt beneath and around him. Her perfect, globule breasts were all he could care to recall of her.

He could, however, remember every trail of tears that rained down that snot-nosed brat's face when he barged into the room, the reflections off of his untainted green eyes, the tone of his voice as he tried to speak through sobs, and even the very way his tiny, tiny body trembled in his cow-print pajamas.

A _thing_ had landed in his room, he had cried. It had been nice at first, as it had uncurled itself from a seed-like _ship_, asking him if there was any place to hide a _stamen_, but then two other _things_ had swooped in through his window. They weren't human, he had exclaimed, as the woman beneath him had released a high-pitched scream from having a five-year old voyeur. They had long limbs, and green veins ran throughout their translucent skin; their hair was really petals and they had no faces – there was a head, but no mouth, nose, or eyes. No ears either. They weren't human, he had gone on to repeat himself.

And the two that had later swooped in were angry because they couldn't find a single sheet of paper on Earth. Well, at least not one that fit their criteria, though those had not been the same exact words he had used – being a child with a limited vocabulary and all.

Once he had finished beating Lambo's ass and sending him back to bed – _alone_ – he had gone back to the heavenly breasted woman who had apparently gotten over her shock.

He could detail with unmistakable recollection how Lambo had slammed the door open a second time, nearly two hours later, with a shit-eating grin on his face. The woman – then on top of him after a small break in activities – had groaned in despair and spat some curses at the cow-child that was his younger charge.

Promptly, the beautifully gifted woman had been handed her clothes and told to leave. No, he wouldn't be giving her a ride back home. She was lucky that she was a woman, allowed to leave without harm.

He didn't particularly like it whenever someone outside the family insulted his idiots unless it was for character building reasons – his idiots being Tsuna and Lambo, the character building reasons usually being deadly or soul crushing. But not usually downright degrading.

He had then listened as Lambo had gone on to cheer about how the first _thing_ to come into his room had returned with a really soft sheet of paper – like feathers or flower petals – and that it had let him sign the paper at the bottom. Well, they had only let him sign it because he had been the one to suggest a good hiding spot for that _stamen_ they had – but _ssshhhh_, don't tell big brother, because that was the place he directed them to.

The bodyguard to the great Vongola family, a powerful Italian influence, stared into his glass of wine with little interest.

The next thing the cow-child had rambled on about was how the _things_ had said that they would have to go back to their planet to finish some sort of rescue operation. And then they would be back.

That shit-eating grin had never left his face.

Reborn gazed into the thick depths of his drink, pondering how widely the child would have smiled had he known that he was going to die the next day. _Foreboding_, that was what it was. The ability to know that something terrible was going to happen before it ever occurred. If everyone had a sense of foreboding, nothing would ever get done. People would be too scared to get anything done. The world would be a place full of cowards. And had Lambo had foreboding, he would have cried and screamed and begged to stay in the mansion.

And then he would have followed them out anyhow. Because he was an idiot. Because he loved his dad. Because he loved Reborn. And he died somewhere in the middle of them too.

He tilted his head, narrowing his black eyes on his Rolex. It didn't tell him the day, but it suddenly occurred to him, as it had for the past few days, that he had purposely missed the little brat's anniversary. That Iemetsu hadn't missed it, for the first time in years. He recalled Dino saying that Tsuna had told him that Nana wouldn't miss the brat's day of death for anything. Tsuna and Iemetsu had also been reunited in the graveyard. News got around awfully fast.

What a lucky brat… dead for over three years and he still has all the attention he could ever want.

Reborn tipped back the crystalline glass, the wine sliding down his throat like a smooth chill.

He wondered about five-year old devils, dressed like little boys that could actually grow on heartless bodyguards, about older brothers who were most likely _still_ failing his – _their_ – classes, mothers that lost sight of what was important, and _things_ that went bump in the night.

He dragged his mind over the hot coals of the difference between heavily breasted women and heavily breasted women with vicious tongues.

Lastly, as he set the glass aside and stood to his feet, leaving a decent tip on the counter, he thought about how wide 12 feet really was.

Wide enough for a five-year old devil who looked like a little boy to die in, apparently.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Some people have asked for Reborn and then I was kind of stuck on how Mukuro and Lambo actually <em>did<em> meet; so, somewhere in between, I came up with this! And, yes, from whatever planet Mukuro's people are on to Earth, there is about a year and a half distance. A year and a half to get there and a year and a half to get back.

I'm sorry for not answering anyone's review. I appreciate them, dearly! They cue me in on what needs improved (apparently, I was vague about a few things in the last chapter) and raise my spirits! Alas, summer fatigue makes me very withdrawn from talking… If you have any questions, I will reply. Otherwise, please know that I do love all of you and just about everything you have to say, even if I do not personally thank you for your reviews.

Lastly (goodness, this is a lot for someone who doesn't actually want to talk… or type), the Vongola family is loaded; Tsuna's side of the family just decided to live a mostly normal life. Just in case anyone caught onto the few parts that pointed to a wealthy and powerful Vongola family. I very much doubt there will be any inheritance of the Vongola family business in this story, however.


	15. The Gigolo

The home was a small hovel on the edge of the construction sight, as if someone long ago had decided that living within 40 yards of the mall was crucial to their survival but then had decided that it wasn't worth that much money. It was a simple, one-floor structure with only the barest essentials (i.e. bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, and a very small living room big enough for a couch and a coffee table).

Tsuna stared at the very comfortable-looking bed, a sunroof open above it (which looked recently configured), with a wooden frame and piled high blankets.

He was tired, but he couldn't even bring himself to blink. He wanted to fall into that bed, but he couldn't even take a step forward. He wanted to…

Maybe he just wanted to cry.

After Gokudera's question, Mukuro had tried to distract them with an array of insults, the ending one being calling Gokudera a gigolo. In the worst possible sense of the word.

Now, Tsuna knew what a gigolo was because of Reborn. Gokudera knew what a gigolo was because he was Italian. Both had been reasonably insulted, Tsuna enough to actually _slap_ Mukuro and Gokudera enough that he dug into his school uniform, looking for a bomb, cheeks red with shame.

How Yamamoto knew what a gigolo was, Tsuna wasn't sure. Maybe Gokudera told him that a gigolo was an Italian male prostitute. Maybe he learned it some other way. No matter the explanation, it could be said that he was the most insulted of the lot.

Never before had Tsuna conceived of the moment where Gokudera would have to restrain Yamamoto. He also had never thought that Mukuro could bleed; but, apparently, he could. It was green and slimy looking, ominously streaking across the floor towards Tsuna as Mukuro stumbled back from the baseball player's fury and brought a hand to the broken vessels in the left side of his face. The green veins of his roots.

After that incident, Tsuna was almost _100 percent_ sure that something was going on between Yamamoto and Gokudera; because Yamamoto had definitely been the most pissed of the two, even though the insult had been directed at Gokudera.

And then, in the confusion of the moment, that sweet-smelling scent had flooded Tsuna's nostrils, fogging his mind and making his vision zoom in and out. The next thing he knew, Mukuro had been carrying through a busy construction sight here, to this very small home.

He wondered how long it would be before Gokudera and Yamamoto found him, as they always inevitably did, no matter how far away he was taken. He knew he wasn't in danger, but… well…

How did Mukuro know who Lambo was? How had he gotten Lambo's childish scrawl onto that paper? Why had he thought it so important to insult Gokudera instead of answer the question? Why did his hand hurt even though all he did was slap Mukuro? Yamamoto had shoved his fist into Mukuro's face and _his_ hand hadn't been hurt! … Maybe… Tsuna didn't think it had been hurt.

That sweet scent came back. A hand trailed up his back to rest on his shoulder. "I missed you," purred an unmistakable voice. "And, look," a volume of Italian fairytales was placed inches from his face, "I brought this back with me. Now this brings back good memories!"

Tsuna looked over his shoulder at the grinning alien. The cheek his open palm had connected with looked unharmed. The cheek Yamamoto had split open had a green vein racing from the bridge of his nose to the ridge of his ear, arching just beneath his eye; suspiciously enough, that was the same area of flesh that had split open. It had sealed itself shut.

And into his mind raced the vision of the green blood edging its way toward him.

Mukuro cooed, obviously able to tell where Tsuna was so pointedly staring. "Oya~ do not worry about it, Tsuna; it will heal."

He shook his head, paused, and then amended, "I was wondering… your blood… why did it come after me?" And he couldn't say it was because of the spatter, or because he was downhill from him, since neither were true. He had been standing on the side of the cheek he had injured, almost behind Mukuro.

"Kufufufu, you do not know?"

"Know what?"

"You _are_ my blood." Mukuro grasped his hand in his available one and placed it to his injured cheek. "You gave me your blood so I could have blood. When my blood spilled, it was only trying to return to its natural body."

"But that's not possible! You make it sound like the blood had the thought to come after me…"

"Not like a brain process, or even instinct. More like a homing beacon. Everything about me is alive, Tsuna. _Everything_. From spilled blood to pulled hair to a hanging nail. Watch." Just like that, Mukuro plucked a hair from his head and held it in his open palm for Tsuna to watch.

It swayed, as if caught by a breeze, and then began to _wiggle_, like a reluctant snake. Even as Tsuna gasped, the long blue length was changing, becoming… thicker? Were those leaves sprouting? Roots began evolving from one end, a closed bud at the other. And then it stopped.

Mukuro pressed his forehead to Tsuna's. "Breathe on it."

"W-what?" His voice was high with shock. And, wait, wasn't he supposed to be angry too? And something else…

"Breathe. On it."

He was about to say _no_, that he wasn't going to breathe on a hair that suddenly became a _plant_ – and then paused. Hadn't he done more insane things in the past year?

So he blew softly on the flower. Beneath his wide gaze, the roots rustled, stretching like a hand, and the bloom shivered. And then it opened. A white lotus bloom opened, glowing iridescently.

"You gave that life too." Mukuro smiled at Tsuna's awestruck expression. His smile became sharper; fake. "You have more questions."

Tsuna snapped out of his shocked state. "Y-yeah… doesn't that need water?"

"That is not what I meant."

"…" Tsuna could no longer see the flower, though he was pretty sure he was staring right at it. "… My brother… h-how did you know him?"

Mukuro sighed noisily, casting the lotus over his shoulder as he melodramatically spun on his heel and landed on the bed, dragging Tsuna down with him. Said brunette victim released a yelp of surprise.

The lotus's roots touched the ground. In the moment of a foreboding crack, the roots bore into the wooden floor and reached around the pipes, through the minute fractures of the concrete base, and then finally into moist soil far, far below…

"Oya~ how did we come back to this?"

"Because you didn't answer it the first time!" He gritted his teeth and his eyes fastened shut, nails biting into Mukuro's shirt. "It might not be important to you, a five-year old human boy, but that boy was my little brother!"

"That never mattered to you until the octopus brought it up." He had a point. He made an excellent point.

And Tsuna knew instantly why he had never asked. Because what if Gokudera's earlier suspicions were correct? What if Lambo's signature had been forged? What if they had never met Lambo? What if… What if that childish scrawl he so desperately believed in was not the childish scrawl of a five-year old human boy?

But now… well, only two days ago, he and his father had made amends. Gokudera and Yamamoto would never abandon him, even after put to a few ultimate tests. Kyoko, Haru, Ryohei, Dino, those two guys who became a couple after coming to his party… he wasn't alone.

He didn't need to be afraid of a signature any longer.

"Just tell me, Mukuro. Where did it come from?"

"From your little brother, of course." He could all but hear Mukuro's eyes rolling with his words. "Oya~ you speak as if you think we forged some kid's words onto a letter just so we could target _you_ specifically. You know, he gave us your address. Well, he gave my bud and her genus your address, then they came back and picked me up, threw me at your doorstep… See? There's the whole story. Was it _really_ worth telling?"

Tsuna stared at him as if he had gone insane. "That can't be all of it. I-I mean, how did he give you – err, I mean your bud, my address if he's dead?"

"Oh, he wasn't dead when my bud crashed into his room. Hhhmm… I guess it does take a descent amount of time to get from Earth to my home planet… and then back again."

"So, wait, your 'bud' just emergency landed in my brother's room, walked up to him, asked him for his home address, and then came back to where _you_ were before sending you out?" It sounded too stupid to be true. Like there should have been some huge, unbelievable tale that began in the beginning of time and ended somewhere towards the end, like some huge extragalactic story that touched all the stars.

Nope, it was just like mediocre postal service.

"Well, I suppose there was more to it than _that_… I believe paper was involved."

Tsuna's head thumped against Mukuro's shoulder. How anticlimactic…

And yet, he started laughing. Because that _would_ happen to Lambo, his baby brother. Aliens coming up to him with no sense of danger and asking him where he lived so they could send an insane plant to his doorstep. Paper somehow involved.

He began crying, because that made Lambo's words _true_. That meant that Lambo had been aware, on some level, that Tsuna was about to receive a package from the _stars_.

_Maek a wIsh, bIg brOther! _Like on shooting stars…

"Oya~ I knew it wasn't worth telling. This was why. I _knew_ it would make you cry, you fragile humans and your tear ducts." But Mukuro petted him softly nonetheless, gloved fingers moving through Tsuna's tossed copper locks. "Kufufufu~ well, I _suppose_ I also wanted to piss the octopus off too… I should have taken the other one into account too. And you, maybe."

Tsuna tried to make a sound of disdain, but it sounded closer to a choked-off laugh. "Y-you just wanna piss e-everyone off t-today…"

"Not just today! Always~"

Mukuro's hand drifted between their bodies, so very close together, and rested against his wayward heart. "_Now_ will you read to me? I have an entire closet dedicated to fairytales all over the world, just so you can drift me off to sleep."

He wanted to say no; because, honestly? This was all too much to take in at one time. Mukuro coming back, the reason why he had left in the first place, the attack(s) on the staircase (both of them), the conclusive explanation to how his little brother played a part in this, possibly the smallest and simultaneously the biggest part. He had a headache coming on, maybe a heartache too. To finish it off, he wasn't even sure if he could read past the sheen of salt water casted on his eyes.

There was a moment of wordlessly broken silence. And then Mukuro sighed, a moment before decidedly shifting their bodies around. When he was done, they were lying with Tsuna's head on the pillows, Mukuro's head on his chest, directly over his heartbeat.

"I _suppose_ the books aren't going anywhere, however… your heartbeat on the other hand… it will only beat for so long…" His voice, towards the end of his small speech, was already slurring.

Tsuna's heart apparently still had the ability to lull him to sleep.

"Good night, Tsuna."

He couldn't even reply. His voice was just… gone. Like 'poof', there goes the rabbit from the hat, just vanished. He dug his fingers into Mukuro's scalp (though subconsciously trying not to rip out any hairs), and held on as if his world was disappearing.

And, maybe, it just was. And, perhaps…

Perhaps, in years to come, such would be a good thing.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: I've reverted back to short chapters… <em>Damn<em>.


	16. The Lost

"We are _not_ talking about it," Gokudera growled. He had his back to his lover, sitting on the small, scarred coffee table in his living room with his Sony VAIO in lap.

Yamamoto was on the couch, bruised and scratched and maybe concussed. He had a grin on his mouth, bottom lip split, and one eye was sealed partially shut. "Mah mah, Gokudera, I was just trying to protect your virtue – "

"We are _not_ t-… _what _virtue? You bastard, you stole my virtue!" The silverette rolled his eyes and grinded his teeth.

They had lost Tsuna earlier in the thick of the fight; how that had been accomplished was beyond him, the person they had been fighting (for the most part, considering that Gokudera was doubling up and being the shit out of Yamamoto too for being such a protective, mushy bastard) with had been the one to kidnap Tsuna and escape. By the time they had made it to the back entrance of the high school to hunt him down, Hibari had been there to meet them and make sure they didn't skip on any more classes.

Even though they had both fought to the greatest of their abilities, Hibari had had them in the nurse's office till the last bell. Which, really, had defeated the whole purpose of having them stay for classes.

Mukuro had been lost, Tsuna with him.

So now Gokudera was on the internet, trying to figure out where he lived. He knew exactly where the construction was happening, the success of his business, where he had begun and that he planned to live in Namimori… but there wasn't even a mention of his name, much less his address. He was merely the owner of _T.S. Happily Ever After_.

"Yeah…" Yamamoto looked far too pleased to be stuck in past memories. "That was the best night of my life."

Gokudera's cheek colored red as he cut a glare towards the baseball player. "_The_ best night of your life?"

His eyes softened, copper eyes loving on spring green. "Okay, _one_ of the best nights of my life."

"Thought so." Hayato turned back to his screen and scrolled through a few more links, agitation quick to build.

Takeshi merely sighed and made himself comfortable, wincing as his sore body protested. Two beatings in one day, once by his lover and another by the prefect, was trying on him. "Hey, didn't he say he was building a home close to the construction sight?"

Gokudera's fingers froze on the keypad. "…"

Before he could take his own stupidity out on the idiot, there was knocking at his door.

"Hhmm… Maybe it's Tsuna," Yamamoto tried to sit up and answer it, but Gokudera merely shoved him back down as he stood to his feet and placed his Sony on the table.

"Idiot! The Tenth wouldn't knock; he has his own key." And then a frightening thought came to him; what if the plant freak had taken it from him? "I'm coming!"

When he slammed the door open, what he saw was not what he expected. There was a huge blonde man in the hallway, pale blue eyes looking down at him.

"Are you Hayato Gokudera?"

He scowled, disappointed. "Who wants to know?"

"I was hoping to find Takeshi Yamamoto. His father redirected me to this address…?"

That's just what he needed… people looking for the idiot coming to his place! "OI! Baseball-idiot, there's someone here looking for you!"

Takeshi was at the door seconds later, looking innocently curious.

He caught sight of their guest and his eyes lost their edge of friendliness, lips pressed thinly together as he smiled. "Iemetsu… Long time no see!" Gokudera raised a brow at Yamamoto's lackluster greeting. Yamamoto came to his side. "Iemetsu, this is Gokudera… Gokudera, this is Iemetsu, Tsuna's dad."

A few different thoughts popped into his mind at the same time. All of them rotated around blood red rage and how any one who could be so unfair to someone as beautiful and kind as the Tenth had only the right to _die_.

"You _bastard_! How dare you come to my house!"

Iemetsu sighed tiredly, as if he had thought this would happen but had hoped against it. "So I guess you've heard of me as the neglectful bastard of a father?" He crossed his heavy arms over his bulky chest and continued to stand there, taking his stand, though humbly so.

"_Heard_ of you being a neglectful bastard of a father? I know first hand you're a neglectful bastard of a father! I've _been_ here the whole time you've been _gone_."

"… You're one of Tsuna's friends?" Now Iemetsu looked intrigued, head tilted somewhat to one side as he scratched his whiskery chin. Slowly, a smile formed on his chiseled lips. "I like you; I can tell that you're loyal and strong. I bet you don't take shit from anyone."

"And I'm not going to be taking any shit from _you_ either," he snarled, teeth bared and glare burning.

"I'll accept that; that just means you have to know that I'm not gonna take any shit from you in turn." He gestured to the doorjamb. "Can I come in?"

Gokudera was about to say _no_, about to rip out a dynamite stick from who the hell knows where and shove it down the man's throat, was about to do _so_ many painful things to the man…

"Come on in!" Yamamoto swept Gokudera under his arm and gestured for the father to enter, lips smiling but eyes not.

Iemetsu came in and went immediately to the couch, sitting down with knees apart and elbows on thighs, leaning forward.

"What the _hell_ do you think you're doing inviting that asshole into _my_ apartment?" Spring green and copper shared a moment of high-voltage tension.

And then Yamamoto kissed him, simultaneously pulling the door shut, and, in the moment of startled _shock_ that followed, whispered against his lips, "Think about it this way, _Hayato_; now anything can happen and no one else in the complex need be concerned if they come down the hallway…" He smiled, angelically. To Gokudera, he had devil horns that glowed red. "Isn't that great?"

… Yeah, actually, it was. He actually liked that.

He hit Yamamoto over the head anyway for four different reasons, nonetheless. One, inviting someone he _hated_ into his home (no matter how wonderful the reason); two, kissing him where said hated person could see; three, calling him _Hayato_ outside the bedroom; and, four, thinking of the idea first!

The baseball player nursed his wounds as Gokudera turned on his heel and cornered the man with a heartless glower. "What are you doing here?" He questioned icily, as if Iemetsu was in an interrogation of third-world origin, i.e., anything goes.

The father, for his part, kept his cool and sat back. "I was looking for Yamamoto, hoping he'd be able to tell me where Tsuna was. I want to the Sushi shop and Tsuyoshi gave me your address."

"Oh, so _now_ you're looking for him?" He planted his hands akimbo. Yamamoto limped back into the room and leaned against the wall. "A little late, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is," he agreed blatlantly. He followed it up with a content smile, eyes warm. "But I'm not ashamed of that anymore." He sighed. "I guess Tsuna forgot to mention that he already saw me." He went on, ignoring both teenager's surprised expressions. "That's alright, he forgot to mention that he got a new mother," he chuckled, "one that he direly needed…" Sorrow. It radiated from him.

"When did Tsuna see you?"

"Lambo's anniversary. I thought it was time to see my sons… Back in Italy, they were telling me that my wife had lost her mind, but I hadn't actually believed them until I got here." Gravely, he looked from one to the other of them. "If it's alright with him, I want to take him back to Italy with me…"

It was like an ice cold shower just spraying down on him, chilling his skin and shattering his bones. He stared at Iemetsu, not at all sure what to do or say or even think. The man wanted to… take the Tenth away? Away from him? But… then who would he follow? Who would he protect? He needed that helpless brunette to function correctly! The innocence in that fractured soul kept him going, gave him a reason in life…

But Iemetsu wanted to take that away.

A hand, warm and callused, settled on his shoulder and squeezed comfortingly. "Then I can tell you right now that he'll say no!" Yamamoto chirped, all confidence and suave.

"So sure, Yamamoto?"

"Yep!"

"How so?"

"Because we love him too much to let him go. So even if he _would_ say yes, we would kidnap him back and never let him leave."

Iemetsu raised a brow. "Even if it was for the best and I were to say that I could put him in a position to run one of the biggest multimillionaire companies in the world in the nearby future?"

"Yep!"

"Doesn't that seem a little selfish?"

"Of course it does." Yamamoto's voice softened and his arm came to wrap around Gokudera's shoulders; the silverette was painfully still, stuck on the 'I want to take him back to Italy with me' part. "But that's how much we love him and how much he loves us. We're not complete unless we're altogether. You can't have him and then make him leave us all behind, he would be miserable and we would be too." He squeezed Gokudera to his side. "Isn't that right, Gokudera?"

Hayato looked from Yamamoto to Iemetsu to the bed he could see from where he stood that had been formerly occupied by his beloved Tenth and then to the floor in a moment's consideration as his mind sped to catch up with the conversation.

Steely determination in his eyes, he shoved his elbow into Yamamoto's gut and raised his glare to the chuckling blonde that was watching Takeshi bend over at the waist in pain. "That's right! The Tenth stays with us, no matter what!"

"… Alright." Just like that… they won, _just like that_. Gokudera could hardly believe it. "But if it's okay with you, I'd still like to talk to him. There are things I want to know and say before I leave him in your hands."

Commence an awkward silence where both Yamamoto and Gokudera stared at the floor with flaming cheeks.

Iemetsu's eyes gradually bugged and then narrowed. "You have no clue where he is, do you?"

"Hah hah… nope…"

"But we have an idea where! And when we find him, we're gonna kick that plant's ass back to wherever the hell it came from…" The last part was a growl.

"… _Plant_? 'Scuse me, but what does a plant have to do with anything?"

"Hah hah… this is going to sound weird, but… it has everything to do with it."

* * *

><p>Author's Note: I thought it would be strange to have Iemetsu just drop into the story once and then disappear… so he's still there, still looking out for his son and trying to take care of him… if anyone's wondering where he's been the whole day, he was staying at a hotel.<p> 


	17. The Dream

Tsuna startled awake around 4 in the morning, only to stare with awe up into the night sky. The open roof, he had never thought to have one before.

Now, he wasn't sure how he would ever be able to live without one again. Above him was the deep midnight-blue night, dotted and streaked with diamonds or maybe snowflakes or even thousands of angles that twinkled and stared down at earth with heavenly eyes. A meteoroid flew by, a phoenix of white and green, and then disappeared out of sight.

Tsuna hastily wished for an open roof wherever he happened to settle. And then he laughed at himself. Lambo would have been proud of him…

With that out of the way, he pondered on what had woken him up… it hadn't been Mukuro, who was dead to the world against his heartbeat, face smooth and unbothered in rest. The early morning was calm and quiet. Yet he felt… he felt like there was something he was supposed to be doing… but what? What could be bothering him at _4 _in the fucking _morning_? He shouldn't be awake! On any other occasion, he knew he wouldn't have been. He wasn't a morning kind of person.

Already, he was trying to fall back asleep, eyelids heavy, yet still the sensation persisted. Something was calling to him, he just knew it… something he had to do, something he had to _do_…

Exasperated, he wiggled out from under Mukuro and slid off the side of the bed. Behind him, the plant remained completely oblivious.

He padded softly across the floor, stepping over the lotus that had rooted itself in the panels, and continued to the front door. Wearily, he walked outside. It didn't occur to him to lock the door, he doubted he was going to go far… besides, if any robbers did come by, Mukuro could take care of them easily.

He walked for a while, just moving without saying a thing or really thinking a thing except for _'damn, I wish I was asleep right now' _and _'what am I looking for?' _which churned and revolved and rotated around each other till they were a string of thought that wouldn't leave him be.

He strode past the construction sight and towards the woods. Branches and twigs snapped beneath his feet, stones scrabbling beneath his soles, and he was suddenly rather happy that he had fallen asleep with his shoes on.

He tripped and stumbled his way through the dark and unlit woods, weaving through the trees towards something he wasn't even sure of. At any moment, he promised himself, he was going to turn around and head back to bed. For one thing, it was really creepy being in the woods so late at night (or early in the morning); for another thing, he had no clue why he was outside to begin with.

He staggered over a protruding root and face said hello to dirt before he could catch himself. Spitting out dead leaves, he gingerly sat up and rubbed his face as clean as he could, or at least as clean as he thought he could considering he didn't know the damage.

He groaned, eyes pinched shut. He wanted to _sleep_… his day had been a mess and he just wanted to sleep until he could sort it out and decide what to do next.

He stood up and he kept going. Why, he couldn't quite tell. But there was something he was _missing_, something he needed to find, something he was supposed to _do_… he let intuition lead him. For what could have been miles or maybe just circles.

He tumbled through a brush and landed painfully on his butt. "Ow, ow, ow, ow…" He rubbed abused flesh tenderly, righting himself with eyes pinched shut in agony.

A glowing behind his eyelids dulled the discomfort. Slowly, very slowly, he opened caramel orbs to see what it was that was so fiercely lighting the night.

There in front of him was a crater, trees and bushes around it caved in towards the newly made crevice with shocks of electricity racing up from it. A white heated globe was in the center of the hole, pulsing like a heart that was feeding light to its bright green veins.

Even as he watched, the glow began to dim and then disappear, the electricity dying out the longer he stared and his vision was impaired by tears and growing spots; it was too bright, like staring into the sun or watching a thunderstorm.

And then it was gone. In the center of the crater was a small boy wearing cow-print pajamas; his hair was a wild afro that seemed bigger than he was and he had huge green eyes in his small pixie face, a huge grin on his chubby cheeks.

Tsuna's breath stuck in his throat. "Lambo…"

His brother laughed like he had once used to: raucously and full of fake bravado. "Big brother!"

He sobbed and he ran, not quite sure if he was running in the right direction until he felt no earth beneath his foot and tumbled down the side of the crater; he couldn't see through the watery haze. He fell and flew, head over heels, until he finally fell still off the slope of the depression.

He lifted his head, one cheek throbbing, and saw the truth. His baby brother was really standing there. "Lambo!" Never before had it felt so good to hug the little maniac, to squeeze him to his chest till he was pretty sure neither of them could breathe. "Lambo, Lambo, Lambo…"

"B-Big brother… c-c-c-can't… breathe! WAAAAH!"

With a choked chuckle, he gave his brother a few inches of distance. He looked down at him, drinking it all in that his brother was there and he was warm and he felt _alive_…

Alive… but…

The joy died slowly yet it was the most torturous thing he had ever felt. "But you're dead…"

"Of course I am, stupid big brother!" Lambo huffed, as if they were talking about how great he was (which could be equivalent to talking about the weather). Then he smiled again. "I love you, big brother. I just wanted you to know that." How mature… how strangely mature, almost as if Lambo wasn't five anymore…

Or did death do that to people? Make them older than they really were? Because Lambo, had he lived, would have only been 10 years old. He felt like he was looking into the eyes of the universe, all knowing and all accepting and so very beautiful, like an embrace of life.

"I love you and I want you to be happy! I want you to live 'cause I never got the chance too, so you've gotta live twice as hard for the both of us, got that? And if you don't, I'm gonna tell Reborn and he's gonna come over and kick your ass!"

Okay, that sounded somewhat more like his baby brother. Tsuna laughed weakly. "I understand… Lambo?"

"Yeah?" Big, curious eyes peered up at him.

"I love you too… and I will _never_ forget you."

"You better not!" His grin got wider. With the patience that shouldn't belong to children, he leaned up and gently kissed Tsuna's forehead. "'Cause I'll always remember you as my big brother. _Always_."

He felt so full and content, so very warm and untouchable, like Superman had passed onto him his gifts and none of his weaknesses or heartaches… he felt forgiven and he felt light.

He curled around Lambo, refusing to let go, no matter what. His baby brother held on just as tightly, squeezing into his chest till it felt like bone, skin, and muscle could honestly not deter the child.

He shut his eyes and he soaked the moment in. Yes… this was what had needed to be done. Did he have the strength to pull away now that it was over?

"Big brother," Lambo yawned against his shoulder, "I'm tired…"

"Yeah… I am too…" No, the strength wasn't with him at the moment…

But he would pull away, eventually. Because it couldn't be real. Lambo was dead; Lambo had even admitted to being dead. So the night would end and with it would the illusion of his baby brother in his arms, wise and yet still so very childish – himself and something else completely, all in one.

However, for now, he would stay. He would revel in the dream, the reality, the mystery, the whatever-it-was that was happening.

With that unbending resolve in mind, his eyes slid shut and he finally let exhaustion carry him under like a wave in a hot spring.

Lambo's voice echoed in his ear, "make a wish, big brother!" Drowsily, he murmured his desire; to mind came the green and white meteoroid, making him wonder if maybe that had been Lambo. Lambo laughed and shook in his arms. "Stupid big brother," a small gloved hand patted his cheek. "You already have an open roof! So I'll just give you something better."

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Was it a dream?<p> 


	18. The Limbs

Mukuro's eyes shot open, one cobalt blue and the other scarlet red, both glaring. If looks could kill, he would have burned the house down instantly with just his glower.

Where was Tsunayoshi? Where was his everything? Hadn't he just gotten the brunette back yesterday?

Why hadn't he woken up when the teenager had slipped away?

The questions swirled around and around until he irately shoved them to the back of his mind. The only questions he needed to be asking himself was 'when' and 'to where'. Everything else could come later.

He peered up to the open roof, eyeballing the sky. The sun was coming up; he could see the edge of the glass tinted brightly and the graduating shades of blue above. But it was only just, probably only minutes since the sun had touched their hemisphere.

Annoyed, he glanced down. Peering back at him was his blossom.

The blossom was actually not a child of his; literally, it was a part of him. Like another limb… like another _eye_.

He slid off the bed and kneeled in front of it, tickling its petals open. In an ancient dialect, one foreign to earth, he asked the lotus sweetly, _"and have you seen where our everything went?"_

A shiver raced up the lotus's stem; _"Out the door."_

"_And do you know the time our everything went out the door?"_

"_The clock on the bedside said 4."_

So Mukuro would say roughly two or three hours…

"_Will our everything return?" _The lotus asked, sweetly.

"_Our everything will return."_

He stood up and the lotus closed its petals, its own silent rebellion until Tsuna returned; a limb that wouldn't work without air and love and fairytales.

Mukuro wished to be much the same way – and, honestly, he was acting much the same way – but he had to find the brunette before he could play the rebel.

Somewhat pleased that he had gone to bed fully dressed and so did not need to waste time with his wardrobe, he went to the door and swung it open, noting its unlocked state.

He also noted the three men standing outside of it, two of them very familiar and one of them faint in his memories that were actually more of Tsuna's.

All three of them opened their mouths at the same time, looking equally exhausted if not handling it at different stress levels.

Before they could utter a word, he meekly held up his hands in mercy and sighed. "I don't know where he is, I was just about to go looking for him."

"Liar!" The octopus dog barked… ironically, just like a dog. Mukuro cooed at the resemblance internally but offered a sneer outwardly.

"I am not lying."

"Then let us in and check the place out!"

"Most certainly not. This place is pure, you would only dirty it."

"You bastard!"

"Oya~ just because marriage isn't common where I come from doesn't mean you get to be mean about it… And you…" He speculated the tan one, Yamamoto, for a long moment. "You're not going to hit me again, are you?" Because that had been a surprisingly good punch. "I'm being honest," for once, at least to _these_ people, "I don't know where he is. If you would like to, you all can join me in the hunt for Tsunayoshi."

"Wait, so _you're_ the plant?" The blonde man was eyeing him from toe to head, blue eyes sharp and hand thoughtfully spread across his whiskery chin.

Mukuro raised an eyebrow at the two teens who were suddenly very interested in the ground. "Oya~ I thought Tsunayoshi could trust you two to keep a secret… yet here you are, having told this man all about me, I presume?"

"I'm Tsuna's father," the blonde growled, stepping forward and capturing Mukuro's attention. "And if I have to go on another wild goose chase to find my son, I'm going to shoot you."

"… _You_ sired Tsunayoshi? How did he turn out the way he did?" He stared at callous features, tan skin, and bulging muscles. "I'm impressed. Alas, I don't think shooting me will solve anything. After all, I'm the one here who is most likely to find Tsunayoshi."

"Really?" Yamamoto cocked his head curiously. "And how's that?"

He grinned cheekily. "I have a, how do you say, 'homing device'. I'll just have to find my way home all over again."

* * *

><p>Author's Note: He's not a stalker… he's just a part of Tsuna! :D But, no, honestly, he might just be subconsciously stalking Tsuna… <em>Hah<em>.


	19. The Loved

When Tsuna woke up, it was to the distant calls of frantic men, the coo and cry of early birds, and of dew settling coldly on his skin. On the heels of those small comprehensions quickly came the dawning of the fact that he was _freezing_!

He shivered as he sat up, body feeling tense and slow, mind fuzzy as he yawned through chattering teeth. He had a lot of questions, but he would settle with the biggest one on the tip of his tongue. "WHERE THE HELL AM I?" The brunette peeked around himself, unsettled to see himself in the middle of what appeared to be a clearing. The ground was flat, nearly perfectly so, and green grass stretched from tree to brush in almost ideal oval around him.

His fingers interwove in the lush turf, even as he frowned. There was a distant memory, right there where he could _feel_ it, but he just couldn't _see _it… something to do with a crater? Or was it spots? He looked more carefully at his surroundings and liked to think it odd that, aside from the grass, there was nothing growing within a 10-foot radius of him.

"TENTH!" Someone screamed, just beyond the forest barrier. Tsuna jumped at the overbearing noise, wondering just who the _hell_ roared so loudly obviously so early in the morning. But, then again, he shouldn't be _outside_ so early in the morning.

"TSUNA?" Two other voices called out, even louder and making the teen grit his teeth.

"Oya~ I don't think it's necessary to shout from here," interjected a much more soothing tone. "As a matter of fact, I implore that you stop."

After blinking stupidly for a moment, it occurred to him that he knew exactly who those people were. "Guys, I'm over here!" Thank goodness for good friends, no, family. Gokudera and Yamamoto flew through the foliage straight at him, skidding around him to wrap their arms around the brunette like safekeeping.

"Tenth, I've been so worried about you! First, we had to find the bastard who kidnapped you and then you weren't where we thought you were and now you could catch a cold and die!" The silverette was freaking out, rather deafeningly, into Tsuna's right ear. His rant went on to include insults about the 'bastard' (Mukuro) in three different languages, seventeen different ways of torture he planned to use on himself for losing him, and then, finally, fell to an awkward silence as his mouth caught on the words, "and then your father got involved!"

Tsuna raised a brow, not quite sure what that meant, but was sidetracked by a happily laughing Yamamoto before he could ask.

"Mah mah, what I think Gokudera's trying to say is that we're happy to see that you're okay… Ah, but you're really cold!" He frowned, murmuring to himself of how to remedy the situation, seeing as how he had left his own coat at home and wasn't really a furnace at the moment either. Gokudera stared at the floor in shame, much in the same predicament.

And then a huge, hot jacket settled over his shoulders, weighing down on him. Looking up, he peered into the sharp blue eyes of his father.

"I don't know what you were thinking coming out here like that, but I'll just add it to your list of quirks like having a flower for a lover and running away from Chihuahuas."

"H-hey, I haven't run away from that fleabag down the street since – " hold up, wait a minute, WHAT THE HELL? "Heh heh heh…" He laughed nervously before gulping, seeing out of the corner of his eye Gokudera's shame increase by tenfold and Yamamoto find uncanny interest in the grass. "W-what do you mean a-a flower for a lover? W-we're not lovers!" And then, as a last thought, "And what do you mean 'flower'?"

The hulking blonde gestured blithely to the two other teens, unbothered himself. "They told me all about the letter you got from Lambo and how he," he pointed a thick finger at Mukuro, standing some feet behind him, "came with it."

Amazing, how someone could be conflicted in thought so many times over such a short period. He felt relief that he didn't have to hide the truth from his father, betrayed that his friends went on and told his father without his permission, and confused over waking up in the middle of the woods. He let those emotions simmer in his thoughts and heart, letting them flow because he just couldn't take it if he had to suppress them now and face them later.

Finally, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Okay," he accepted mercifully, both of his friends visibly brightening up while Gokudera seemed on the verge of tears for the joy of forgiveness. "But, uh, what are you doing here to begin with?" Gokudera and Yamamoto he understood; he had already predicted that they would be coming. But why was his dad there?

"I had something to ask you, but…" Iemetsu shared a look with Gokudera and Yamamoto, eyes sparkling in a 'secret, secret' way, "I guess I forgot what that was."

"Huh…" Tsuna tilted his head, accepting that.

There was silence as Tsuna warmed himself back up, staring at the grass and wondering why he felt it shouldn't be there.

"Well?" His dad at last pressured.

"Well, what?" Tsuna blinked huge brown eyes at the figure.

"Aren't you going to ask how we found you 3 miles into the woods without a huge search party?"

Tsuna thought about that in all honesty and then shook his head. "I think I already know." His gaze slid tellingly to Mukuro, a small smile perking his lips.

If Mukuro's blood had been able to search him out, imagine what the plant himself could do. After all, Mukuro had said that _everything_ about him was alive, _everything_ about him wanted to come home, and Tsuna… Tsuna was home. Tsuna had created Mukuro's home using everything he was until he was… well, everything to the alien.

He flushed darkly at the thought. That just sounded _cheesy_. And he wasn't cheesy… he just wasn't!

Iemetsu followed his gaze with a raised eyebrow and then proceeded to glare at Mukuro, jaw clenched and nostrils flaring like a bull about to charge the red cape. "Okay, what'd you do to my son, you pervert?"

The brunette's mouth dropped open, shock filling him at his father's question, and it was all in time for Gokudera to snap around and suddenly realize that an entire night had gone by with Tsuna in the arms of the very creature he despised… _alone_. Without Gokudera to protect his virtue!

HOLY SHIT, Mukuro just might have made a man (Buddha forbid) of his beloved Tenth! "NOO! I'LL KILL YOU FIRST, YOU FUCKING PLANT!"

Yamamoto laughed unsurely as Tsuna stared at his vengeful angel of an ally, uncertain whether to piss his pants or admit this as his temperamental friend. Except, in all honesty, this was a kind of outburst he had heard… well, never before.

He looked at the baseball player while Gokudera charged Mukuro with dynamite in hand, wondering if maybe Yamamoto would know.

Takeshi caught his eye and rubbed the back of his head bashfully. "Hah hah, I think that's the battle cry he's been saving for whenever he thinks you're not a virgin anymore!"

"You've _got_ to be joking!" He cried, horrified.

Yamamoto looked at him apologetically and Tsuna knew that joking was the last thing he was doing, most likely actually being painfully honest.

A hand clapped his back, Iemetsu smiling down on him. "Well, I've got to say, Tsuna, the family you've made for yourself is… well, it's everything you deserve plus some."

He felt his heart clench in sweet pain. "D-dad… Thanks."

"Nah; thank _you_. Only someone as great as my boy can remind me to forgive, am I right?"

Tsuna wanted to say something along the same lines, but it was too late. His dad hugged him tightly, too tightly for him to speak, and then, like a shadow heading back into the darkness, his father disappeared into the woods and was gone. The brunette watched after him mutely, wondering if that was honestly all there was to it. If so, well then… that would definitely be an Iemetsu-way of saying goodbye – aspiring, ragged, and kind.

He sighed and then grinned, snorting at the ridiculousness of the man who sired him. It occurred to him that he really _should_ be heartbroken over having just gotten his father back and now he was losing him all over again, _buuut_~ as it turned out, he had a little too much family to handle as it was.

Gokudera and Mukuro were trying to kill each other (or maybe that was just Gokudera trying and Mukuro was amusing himself by taunting the silverette) while Yamamoto decided to leave Tsuna's side and soothe the other teen in the midst of a bloodless war.

"You bastard! How _dare_ you stop me! Do you know what filthy things that bastard _must_ have done to Tenth before we could save him? I will never forgive him! OI, don't laugh at me, you dumbass plant!"

Tsuna's face turned a brazen red as Gokudera's chin was captured in Yamamoto's one hand and turned towards the Japanese, lips on lips in what was _clearly_ not a friendly kiss but _definitely _a gay, 'we've done this a lot' sort of molestation.

While Gokudera was distracted, Mukuro slipped away and came to Tsuna's side, offering him a hand to his feet and then tangling a hand in his hair, gently stroking.

"Kufufufu~ your shock looks cute, Tsunayoshi~" Mukuro nuzzled his ear, blissfully ignoring the teen's surprised jerk. "What, didn't you suspect them?"

Well, _yes_, but suspecting was a lot different from learning firsthand!

Mukuro rested his chin on Tsuna's shoulder and then withdrew, nose crinkling in distaste. "Your father smells terrible. I prefer your scent…" He trailed off with a pout.

Tsuna looked from him to his friends, to his friends and then back to Mukuro, gawking. Finally, he smiled.

The world was suddenly, abruptly, entirely beautiful… and he wasn't completely sure how that had happened, considering his state of mind the night before.

"I don't know what to tell you, I can't just dump it somewhere."

"Kufufufu~ of _course_ you can. And if you're still cold, I can lend you my coat! Smell~" A sleeve was shoved into Tsuna's face.

Mukuro's natural sweet scent flooded his mind, blurring Yamamoto and Gokudera in his vision. But he smelled so damn _good_, he had to take a second whiff, just trying to determine what exactly it was. How could someone smell so tantalizing?

As his mind hazed over completely, the last coherent thought to flash through his mind was Gokudera's yelp.

"GAH! Not again! Save the Tenth!"

Somehow, even though he was only somewhat aware of what Gokudera was talking about, he had the feeling that it was far too late for him to be saved.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Mukuro seems to have that effect on Tsuna to the point… heh heh~<p> 


	20. The Meeting

He entered the tavern on silent feet, head turned down and fedora tipped low over his unfocused black gaze. Those he passed by ignored him as he ignored them, an unvoiced agreement to live throughout the night peacefully.

He took a stool at the end of the bar, gesturing to the bartender for his usual, the beginning of his night in red wine. The old man Okayed that with his own gesture and then went about the bottles lined up artistically in front of the full-length mirror stretching the one wall of the pub.

In silence, he considered the bar surface without actually seeing it, something he let himself do a couple times a week ever since that damned child had been murdered, this being the second night in a row. He wasn't really thinking anything, his mind was blank, but he accepted his drink with a nod of his head and tapped his fingers along the neck of the wineglass.

The swinging doors to the inn opened with a murmured 'hello' from an unfamiliar voice, followed by reluctant greetings from fellow drinkers.

A figure settled into the seat beside his, a pale crème hand in view of his. A soft, husky voice purred, "how broody of you, Reborn. I never thought this is how I would find you."

Reborn scowled into his drink, displeased at the interruption; especially by someone who _thought_ they knew him. "Move three seats away and mind your own business or else I will kill you."

"You can't do that… you're a bodyguard to my family, you can't kill me."

"I know everyone in the Vongola family and you are not a part of it." He should kill the stranger for even making up such a stupid lie.

And then he looked up into electric green eyes, so familiar and yet unfamiliar. Wavy black hair was short around a pixie face, pale coffee crème skin unblemished. He wore pastel cutoffs with a cow-print dress shirt, sandals on small feet. He had to be no more than 15 or 16.

Reborn's eyes narrowed on the male, wondering just how he knew the boy.

"My oh my, you just have one hell of an anger issue, don't you?" The child waved the patron over. "Can I have milk and grapes, please?"

The bodyguard's eyes widened almost drastically, as least by his standards. "What's your name?" He demanded, turned towards the boy and glaring in a 'don't deny me' way.

The teenager eyeballed him, love obvious in his childish yet wise stare. "Lambo. Lambo Bovino Vongola." His milk was shot down the bar towards him and he caught it smoothly in one hand, snatching the basket of grapes in the other as it slid down as a companion. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Reborn turned back to his wine, speculating the teen out of the corner of his eye. He couldn't believe it. It was impossible. There _had_ to be an explanation… maybe, even, the kid was trying to scam him. If that was the case, the boy was going to regret coming near him.

"I just want you to know," the teen began, popping a grape down his throat in exactly the same manner Lambo once had, by sucking it into his mouth, "that I really did love you. Even when I was dying, I was thinking to myself… 'I'm gonna make it to Reborn'… Well, I guess I didn't make it that day, but I made it now." He smiled gently as he rubbed another purple delicacy between his fingertips. "I can't explain to you how it is that I'm here now or why it is that I look like this, all I can say is that… I still really do love you."

He stared at Lambo, unable to say anything, think anything, or even _do_ anything.

The teen finished his order, gave Reborn a saucy grin that the man knew only too well, and then slid off his stool. "I promised big brother that I would give him something much better than an open roof – don't ask – so I thought I'd ask you to see him off. Remember that night I told you about the things that landed in my roof? Well, they dropped off their package and now I think Tsuna's handling more than he realizes."

He turned around, just like that, and was about to leave.

Reborn acted on instinct – he couldn't _just_ let him walk away like that, like he planned on coming back which they both knew he wasn't – and grabbed Lambo by his arm, jerking him back instead of apart. As if that had been what the boy had wanted, he turned around in mid-lapse and faced Reborn with such a loving, warm smile on his face, it was painful to look at.

He leaned up and kissed Reborn on the lips, pressuring softly and tasting sweetly of grapes, milk, and a summer breeze. It was so difficult to believe that, just a few years ago, this child had died feet away from him. That this would have been Lambo had he lived long enough. And now, in the most physical way possible, the person who hadn't lived past five was adoring him with a kiss so firm and promising, it was inconceivable that this was the first and last time lips would meet.

Lambo pulled away reluctantly and peered up at Reborn with teary eyes. "I- goodness, I-I've really got to go now… Y-you know, there's only so long I c-can be here… Remember, g-go see b-b-big bro-other… Okay? E-even when you f-forget everything e-else, remember that…"

Before Reborn could even question the absurdity of that request, the teen had already run out of his grasp and then out of sight, the doors swinging behind him.

For a moment, he just stood there, hand outstretched and mind boggled while he remained stoic in appearance. Slowly, almost mechanically, he sat back down.

The bartender came down the counter and peered at the empty basket and glass. "Reborn," the man quivered, "who ordered this?"

Reborn looked from the aged male to the empty order and then cupped his wineglass to his mouth. He remained silent. He couldn't admit to not knowing because he knew for a fact that no one had been sitting there when he had entered, nor had anyone sat there since. He wouldn't have let anyone sit so close to him, much less sit there long enough to finish off their beverage and appetizer.

He glared at his wine, pondering why his lips were tingling and the abrupt urge to see the personification of stupidity that had once been his student… he hadn't seen him since Lambo had died.

For the first time in years, remembering the brat didn't make him bitter. No, it brought about the strangest sensation…

If he didn't know any better, he'd say he actually felt _warmth_ swarm his heart, like love. Or something.

_Author's Note: Poor, poor Lambo… no one ever remembers him._


	21. The Consummation

Alright… the mystery wasn't why he had passed out – he had already figured it out to be Mukuro's natural odor which always seemed to drug his senses – or why he woke up on a bed. It wasn't even why he could hear Gokudera raving somewhere in the distance, possibly blocked from him by a thick wall or two.

He was rather focused on why he was _tied down_ to the bed, hands and legs spread wide with each limb bound to a poster. And then there was the fact that he was _naked_, like 'birthday-suit' naked, while spread out like some twisted version of a buffet. Also, what was with the blindfold? His world was in complete darkness!

"Kufufufufu~ finally awake, Tsunayoshi?"

"M-Mukuro! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" He hadn't known the plant liked this sort of thing… Then again, maybe he didn't understand at all? Maybe he had been walking the streets one day, minding his own business, and had unknowingly run into a pervert! Ah, wishful thinking. But he could be a little hopeful, right?

"Oya~ you don't sound happy at all! I'm just doing this because I love you~"

"Hi-hieee?"

Phantom hands drifted over his chest, leather brushing his nipples and whispering down his sides to rub his inner thighs. Tsuna shivered, hands clenching and toes curling. His face flushed red.

"Well, I've been wanting to do naughty things to you for awhile, but by the time I knew about how humans fornicated – " Tsuna mentally died, "I was already gone and making a living for us. And then I was going to show you all that I've learned once I brought you here last night; however, you were heartbroken over your sibling. So I thought I would be patient…" The hands were at his inner knees, stroking the delicate flesh. They rubbed down his calves and then slowly trekked back up. "And then, to finally melt all of my resolve, I wake up alone in the morning… No heart to soothe me, no voice to comfort me… I was completely and utterly _alone_…" Fingers were groping his ass, squeezing and then releasing, squeezing and then releasing, over and over…

"B-b-b-but… ah… w-what about all of-f _this_?" Tsuna thought of the bondage and blindness.

"Kufufufu~ all of this? Well, the bonds are to keep you still for my love and the blindfold is to keep you safe."

"S-safe?" _Holy shit_, he realized with absolute shock, _what if his private parts are roots!_ He tried to remember that first night he had seen Mukuro naked, trying to recall what had been human and what hadn't been. That was the only thing he could think of Mukuro trying to 'save' him from.

"Yes." Lips settled on his, moist and cool, sweetly fragranced and tasting so damn _good_… "Because whenever you seem to open your eyes, your heart breaks again. Someone is always there to fracture your gaze. So if I keep you like this, you'll never see something heartbreaking and you'll stay happy for me. Kufufufu~ it's a foolproof plan!"

He wasn't sure whether to be perturbed or touched, so he settled for rubbing the side of his face against the bed until the blindfold gave and slid down his cheek. With partial vision, he looked up into Mukuro's disappointed, duo-colored eyes. "I'll be sad if I don't get to see my family – including you. If I'm blind, I can't be sure whether or not everyone around me is happy. And that won't make me happy." Alright, that was a good reason! He hadn't known he had it in him… Now, "a-and can you untie me?"

Mukuro pouted, hands relocating to Tsuna's breast where the rough palms of his gloves compressed against his already aching nipples. "Why?"

"C-cause it's emba-embarrassing! AND WHERE ARE YOU TOUCHING?" Hadn't both hands just been on his chest? So what was with the limb on his manhood, petting his half-hard length? "L-l-lemme go!"

"Nuuuu~ you're too cute, Tsunayoshi… You can't expect me to stop."

"Y-yes I can!"

"Oya~ no, you can't."

"Why not?"

Mukuro pressed his lips to his ear, breathing sickly sweet air against his lobe as he nipped at the cartilage. "Because you can't. I've gone through so many books and naughty movies, trying to figure out how best to please you… Do you honestly want all of my learning to go to waste?"

"I-if this is what it all s-s-sums up t-t-t-o, then YES!"

Another searing kiss, like sugar seeping down the back of his throat and soaking his insides, winding down and into his lower abdomen where it hardened and boiled and then hardened some more. It was molten and it was mind consuming, a tongue slipping smoothly past his lips to twine and tango with his own. Teeth were there, he realized somewhere in the back of his mind, nibbling on his bottom lip and sucking on it.

Too hot… too good… too _new_. How was he supposed to react? He wasn't sure, so he went limp and numbly followed along, argument forgotten as his body hummed… _strangely_. Pleasantly, but it felt weird, butterflies warring beneath his skin and lava burning his cheeks. _Damn it_, he wished he could move! In that moment, he was almost certain he wanted to drag Mukuro closer, let that sweetness of his taste soak into his skin…

When Mukuro pulled away, he whimpered. Hey, he had been _enjoying_ that! And then he wondered, only somewhat because his brain was fried, if maybe it was worth the loss – if only to have Mukuro's mouth on his chest, suckling the hard nubs there, while one hand supported him and the other steadily pumped his member. So much _sensation_…

"P-p-p-please… l-lemme go…" He tugged forcefully at his restraints, wishing they were just _gone_.

"Kufufufu~ no. Another time, but not this time."

"B-but this is-ss my f-f-first time!" Was this how he wanted to remember the loss of his virginity? _Tied down_? … Everything else, he supposed, was okay… Okay considering he hadn't even known he was gay, that his lover wasn't even human and had been introduced to him through his long-dead brother, and that Gokudera was still wailing from outside the house (why didn't he just blow the door open?).

"Kufufufu~ I know~" he kissed a trail down his belly, lapping at his belly button while his thumb rubbed against the head of his penis. "It's my first time too… well, in this lifetime, anyway."

"… R-r-really?"

"Of course. Don't tell me you thought I was going to taint myself by touching the filthy creatures you consider your race. Dirty, dirty things, you humans – twisting and churning the world to your own liking, draining her of life."

"H-h-her?"

"Earth. She's whimpering, you know."

"H-huh?"

"Kufufufu~ as far as you _homo sapiens_ are concerned, I am a plant. We plants have a language of our own, unheard by your little pink ears. We hear through our foliage and roots. And your earth cries, Tsunayoshi, if only you could hear her."

"…" He sucked in a deep breath, trying to calm his raging body. He failed. "I-I can't… And I can't d-do anything about w-what I am… but I don't t-t-think you're just a plant… Y-You're my Mukuro…" The man looked down at him as if the sun rose and fell in his eyes. At last, his hands were still. Tsuna swallowed thickly and released a shaky sigh. "Well, now that the mood is gone, c-can you, uhh, unt-t-tie me?" Though he would have to run to the bathroom… the mood might be killed, but he was about to burst!

"Oya~ you're so funny, Tsunayoshi… I'm not _nearly_ done with you, especially after you say such cutesy things~"

"H-huh?" He bit down on his bottom lip, barely cutting off a cry of pleasure and discomfort as Mukuro's hand began moving again, rough leather coarse against the sensitive skin of his penis, chafing and a bit painful plus just so damn _frustrating_, so very good…

"You called me yours!"

"GggnnnnaaAH!" He stared with wide eyes up at Mukuro, breath coming in short, harsh gasps.

Mukuro pulled his hand away, leather stained in white, and smirked. "Kufufufu~ was it that good?" He smeared the teen's essence over his fingers, tongue darting over slick lips before sucking the juice off his digits.

The brunette could only watch, mouth dry and mind blank.

With purposeful laziness, he stood up and bit down on the pads of his gloves, sliding one off and then the other, tossing them aside. His jacket was next, pushed off of broad shoulders to fall to the floor in a black pool. His white undershirt disappeared to reveal a sinewy torso. And then, a final act of seduction (that Tsuna would admit wasn't necessary), his leather slacks were unbuttoned and pushed leisurely down his long, strong legs.

He should have known Mukuro went commando.

Mukuro took the tie out of his hair and his indigo mane fell free, completely unhindered and smooth over his shoulders and down his back.

Tsuna's young and hormonal body was on the brink of a second orgasm, never having been subjected to a striptease before.

"I have…" Mukuro purred, stalking back onto the bed, "so many things I want to do with you…"

"L-l-let's not g-g-get ahead of ourselves!" _Hiiieeee!_ He was so screwed… literally!

"We're not. We have all the time in the world to enjoy, why would we get ahead of ourselves? Kufufufu~ you say such silly things." _Pop_.

For one crystal clear moment, he thought and knew nothing. All he could do was rely on his senses for survival and all they could tell him was that his member was down the man's throat, being nursed and suckled like a treat, Mukuro humming around his penis and tongue doing interesting things that made him want to drown in ecstasy.

"Aaaahh… M-M-Mukuro… Hiieee…" He pulled ferociously at his soft shackles, torso writhing, but he gained no leverage. He remained an entrée for Mukuro's desires, unable to quench any of his own and certainly helpless as his innards created knots of themselves and pulled violently.

A sense of urgency washed over him, so intense he began to shiver – not just outside, but in, all the way down to his heart and soul and the very foundations of who he was began to tremble. "H-h-hurr-rry…"

He sat up, incredible, ethereal male beauty wrapped into one person with carnal wrath written out in his leer. "So impatient already? Now who's getting ahead of whom?"

"Hurryyy!"

"Kufufufu… like a child." Mukuro trailed kisses down from his manhood to his puckered entrance, darting his tongue inquisitively over the quivering ring of muscles.

"D-don't do that! Th-that's dirty!" Tsuna tried to glare at him, but, umm… that meant staring past his bobbing erection to Mukuro's head, meeting his teasing gaze head-on. And that was more than he could handle! With a reluctant moan, his head fell back into the pillow, staring up into the night sky. So strange because the last thing he remembered was Mukuro shoving his coat into his face that morning…

"You, unlike the rest of your kind, are not dirty… absolutely everything about you…" he rubbed his fingers over Tsuna's length, wetting them in precum before dipping one finger carefully into his orifice, grin widening at his keening, "is precious to me." Hands on Tsuna's hips, he pushed his tongue into his canal and sampled for a moment, thrusting shallowly while Tsuna cried out and fought for his freedom.

For far too long – or far too long in Tsuna's opinion – Mukuro molested his hole with his tongue, filling the room with the lewd sound of suckling and Tsuna's moans and whimpers. It was the strangest sensation in his life, Mukuro's muscle inside of him, pleasuring him and paining him at the same time, awkward and yet amazing. It sent thrills up his spine, words tumbling off his tongue that he didn't even understand. "M-M-MUKURO!" And, just like that, he came undone again.

He fell limp on the bed with a shudder, sensitively aware of Mukuro's tongue still in his contracting hole, his inner walls squeezing and pulsing around the man's digit.

"Kufufufu…" he chuckled, pulling out – _finally_. "You came a lot this time…" He smeared his hands in his essence, creating images in the spurts of white dotting his lithe torso. "I bet I can make you do it again~"

He wasn't going to take that dare. He knew without a doubt that Mukuro could.

His fingers, gelled in Tsuna's fluids, made a beeline back to his entrance. Mukuro even narrated the trek by whistling sharper as he came closer to his destination, as if this was _amusing_ and not a life-altering decision.

"M-Mukuro…?"

A hand wound around his own bound appendage, interweaving fingers as Mukuro's slick digits rubbed against his sphincter. "No matter what book you read or movie you watch, this always hurt the first time around. So just bear with me, hm?" And then he slid a single digit into his entrance, making Tsuna's breath catch. A second finger was too quick to join, making him squirm uncomfortably. His hand squeezed around Mukuro's. The two digits scissored and then withdrew, only to thrust back in as three, and Tsuna bit his bottom lip till it bled.

"Oya~ don't do that, that's wasteful…" Another mind-drugging kiss was given, stealing the pain away faster than Tsuna could remember that there had been pain to begin with. His abused lip was nursed gently and the fingers were moving in and out of him at a snail's pace, letting him adjust.

'_Mukuro had my manhood in this mouth awhile ago… and then this tongue was in my ass… so why am I letting him kiss me again?' _He did not know and he honestly could not bring himself to care, said tongue roaming the space of his orifice, keeping both mouths far too busy as a final and fourth finger was introduced, just to make sure. He felt so heavy and so full, but not heavy or full enough – a gasp could blow him away and he would never be able to touch ground again, he just _knew_ it. He needed more, he needed Mukuro to hurry, he needed whatever the guy had! "Please!" He wailed into his lover's mouth, chest heaving and body pushing back on the other's hand as assertively as he could while being immobile.

"… Okay~"

The brunette felt, with every nerve-ending in his body, Mukuro's fingers withdraw from him. It was just too tragic and he was desperate to have them back, to not feel so _empty_ all of a sudden…

The hand around his tightened and his lover's voice echoed throughout his hotwired mind, "hold onto me, Tsunayoshi."

He would if he could be _untied_!

"H-hiieeeee!" His eyes widened with every tenth of an inch that invaded him, just overrun by excruciating pain as the head of Mukuro's cock stretched him to the point where he feared being split in half. "N-no more…" His hand was holding onto his lover so tightly, his knuckles were white. Strain made his lips pale and face crimson, eyes slanted in agony as his toes curled in protest and his body tried to push the invader out. "Stop… Mmmm…"

Those kisses were miracles, he just knew it. He focused his entire self in the embrace of lips, tears gathering in the corner of his eyes but refusing to let them fall. He loved that syrupy, flowery taste; it was a painkiller and Ecstasy, making everything blurry and painless and yet he felt something so _overwhelming_, he had no will to fight.

While he tried to imprint that taste into his mind, his for whenever he needed to be comforted by the soul-soothing core of his own creation, Mukuro pulls away and grinned merrily down at his pouty expression. "I'm all in~"

"W-WHAT?" His gaze shot between them, unable to believe it. "B-but – how?"

"How else? I slid all of me inside of you and now we really are just one being." Indigo hair fell over them like a curtain, their own private world where Tsuna's astonished gaze met Mukuro's loving smirk. "How does it feel, to be my home?"

"I-it feels…" painful, splitting, hot, too deep, too wide, throbbing… "full. A-and alive…" Was it _growing_?

"Do you want to know what it feels like to be home?"

No, not really. Because that would mean that he was going to say more perverted things! But Mukuro went on anyway, blissfully ignoring his obvious distress.

"Full. And alive. Kufufufu~ you thought I was going to say something deviant, didn't you? No; all that you feel is what I feel, Tsunayoshi… and it feels… beautifully and mystifyingly aphrodisiacal."

"… P-please… please untie me."

"Aaaww… but I like this, having you completely open for me…"

"Idiot!" Wow, now he kind of felt like Gokudera (when had Tsuna stopped caring that he was still screaming?). Then again, if Yamamoto acted half as bad as Mukuro in bed, maybe Tsuna could understand that…. Not that he wanted to think of his two best friends doing what Mukuro was doing to him at the moment! "J-just listen to me for o-once, okay? I-I want something a-a-and I w-want it from you!"

His lover stared down at him with awe and humor. "Oya~ and that is?"

"I-I…" was he really going to say it? "I want to touch you too! And I can't do that if you have me tied to the bed!" Why did he even have to debate this? Why did he have to fight for his rights over his body? WHAT THE HELL?

Mukuro buried his nose into his hair, breathing contently. "Understood, Tsunayoshi…"

The bonds came undone beneath his ministrations, setting Tsuna's hands free even as his feet were kept captive. He would bring himself to fight over that later. For now, though, he threw his arms around Mukuro's shoulders and dug his nails into his back, inflicting the discomfort he felt on his lover as he waited out the pain shooting up his spine.

"… O-okay… You can… y-y-you know…"

"No~ no, I don't know."

"Liar!"

"You're going to have to be clear with me."

"You c-can move now!"

"Move? Move _what_?"

"P-please m-m-move your – … your cock…"

"Where?"

"… I hate you…"

"Kufufufu~"

"… I-in me…"

"Oya~ you want me to move my cock inside of you?"

He nodded timidly.

"Why didn't you just say so?"

"M-Mukuroooo!"

"Kufufufu~ okay, okay… I'm moving… feel that? I'm deeper now… Aaah… and feel that? Now I'm sliding out of you… Isn't that mind boggling?"

Yes… oh, _yes_ it was. Shaking and crying out, he tangled his hands into Mukuro's long hair, head in his lover's shoulder as the strangest slivers of delicious friction echoed throughout his frame, electrifying and dangerous. "H-harder…" Because it wasn't fast enough, deep enough – they were a part of each other, but he didn't feel _close_ enough. He had to have more, had to have it quick before he shattered and stopped being just Tsuna anymore.

"As you wish…" Mukuro was looking different too, the brunette realized. He wasn't sweating, but he was definitely changing, something absolutely occurring beneath the skin for him. There was so much fire in his eyes, burning right through him as they stared resolutely into his very soul, demanding everything that he was and leaving nothing behind as he took him over one square inch of skin after another.

And he almost seemed to be… glowing. Not a sunny glow, but a moonlit glow – pale and gorgeous, his soft complexion casting a white shadow around him. He was so gorgeous and he was all Tsuna's.

The teen stroked his hands restlessly up and down Mukuro's back, grabbing anxiously onto his hips as the pace became frenzied and then reaching even lower for better leverage, so far gone he didn't even see Mukuro's crude smirk or hear his sexy remarks. He stared blindly into Mukuro's face, the corner of his eye watching the sky above them. It was obvious, in that moment of watching Mukuro shine and seeing the stars above sparkle, that his lover was not of earth. It appeared almost unfair to keep him there in the world with him…

Just this once, however, couldn't he be selfish?

"M-MUKURO!"

"Tsunayoshi…"

It was the singularly most stunning moment of his life. They both lied there, Mukuro's larger body pressing his into the mattress, and neither seemed to be able to recover fast enough.

In the first moment of clarity that he had, he cast Mukuro a confused look as his lover undid his feet and drooped tiredly in the bed next to him, head on Tsuna's heart. "H-hey, Mukuro… U-u-umm… why did you pull out?" He whispered the question, honestly fearing that someone would be able to hear (OH MY GOD, Gokudera was still calling out for him!).

"Kufufu~" Mukuro drowsily sniggered, already half-asleep. "I'm not a man, Tsunayoshi… if I release my seed inside of you, you will get pregnant… it has nothing to do with gender, it has everything to do with whether or not you can provide the right nutrients…" He was quick to add on before Tsuna could adamantly defend the fact that men could not bear children, no matter his lover's race. "If I were to eject inside of you, hundreds of my buds would grow beneath your skin for two years."

"T-that would be bad for me… wouldn't it?"

"Yes… Yes, it would."

"…" So that was going to be their love life? Hot with a chance of getting pregnant by his alien lover and dying in the process? He didn't really like that thought. And yet, then again, that would take a lot of determination to pull out at the last second, right? Mukuro really did care about him… "Thank you."

His lover offered a small smile and nothing more, already lulled to sleep by the brunette's flustered heart.

Exhausted, sore, and hoping to beat his lover up in the morning for all of it (he shouldn't be so tired for having spent the entire day passed out!), he let himself follow Mukuro into the land of dreams where fairytales were read regularly.

Meanwhile, Gokudera was frustrated… No matter how hard he tried or how many explosives he fired…

The barrier of roots between his Tenth and him never got any thinner. Yet, somehow, noise filtered through only too well. "TEEEENTH! I'LL KILL HIM FOR DEFLOWERING YOU!"

_Author's Note: I finally have delivered the smut everyone has wanted! My oh my… how lovely it is! And, no, the story isn't over with yet. I still have a couple more chapters to deliver._


	22. The Happiness

"Mukuro…" Tsuna cautiously edged around the man, careful of how his eyes were shining maliciously. "Stay back… No! Stay… away!"

"Kufufufu~ what's _that_, Tsunayoshi?" He tried again to snatch the tall bundle from Tsuna's arms, his grin entirely fake and green veins snaking throughout his features. "Why is _it_ in our house?"

"Kyoko gave it to me as a gift… She accidently overheard Yamamoto saying that my plant – err – you were back, and she thought that I had a green thumb, so she… got me a – a_nother_ plant…" He turned his body protectively, Mukuro dangerously close. "It's a – uuuhh – it's a white orchid… it's nice, isn't it?" The tall green stems of the plant opened into white blossoms, beautiful blooms.

"It's in _our_ house."

"Well, where do you _want_ me to put it?"

"In the garbage… some miles away."

"Mukuro, you're acting weird." He frowned and sidestepped Mukuro's sweeping stab. "Are you… Are you _jealous_… of a _plant_?"

"Well, what would you want me to be jealous of?" Mukuro snorted derisively, eyes rolling only to focus on the white orchid with fiery hatred. "A _chimpanzee_?"

"I'd rather you not be jealous at all!"

"You should comfort me. I don't feel secure in our relationship anymore."

"_What_? Hiiieeee! No, no! Stay AWAY!" He managed to slap the orchid on the kitchen countertop before making a mad dash away from the leering man. There was a long moment before he _felt_ Mukuro giving chase, though he heard nothing at all. Instantly, he feared for the plant Kyoko had so caringly given him. He shouldn't have left it defenseless!

He was at the front door, hand turning the knob, when an arm circled his waist and dragged him to the floor, cooing as he stole Tsuna's surprised scream into his mouth.

Slowly but surely, Tsuna went limp under the onslaught of lips. It had been a week since he lost his virginity to Mukuro, a very long, very tiring week… and it had to have been the best feel-good week in his _life_. He sighed and let his arms circle Mukuro's shoulders.

Behind them, the door slid ominously open. "_Ciao ciao_."

Tsuna froze. Mukuro twitched.

Eyes wide open, he stared past his lover to a man wearing a black Armani suit and fedora. _Reborn…? _He pulled away from Mukuro and gaped. "What are you doing here?" He damned himself for squeaking, but… well…

He hadn't seen Reborn in _years_… not since Lambo died. And now, all in a month, everyone was coming back to him? _What the hell was going on?_

"What do you mean, what am I doing here?" Reborn growled, arms crossed over his chest. "What are you doing down there with him?"

"U-uumm… errr…"

"Never mind, I already know." Reborn slipped off his shoes and then made his way into the house as if he owned the place.

Mukuro watched his progress with a glare. "Who is he?" He was smirking coldly. "And why does it seem that you are dragging in all sorts of unwanted company today?"

Tsuna couldn't even answer. He pushed Mukuro off of him and followed in a numb daze his former tutor into the kitchen. Reborn was speculating an empty pot on the kitchen countertop, its contents mostly tussled dirt. A trail of soil led to the small window over the sink, the pane open where the track ended tragically.

Wait… where was the white orchid?

Reborn peered out of the window, looking directly down. "Stupid-Tsuna," he growled, "your _plant_ committed suicide. What sort of environment have you created for both of you here?"

"My plant did _what_?" Following Reborn's glare, he saw the white orchid sprawled despairingly on the ground below, the perfect pose for suicide. "That's not possible."

"Kufufufu~ well, it left sooner than I thought it would." Mukuro was leaning over Tsuna, arms on either side of him. "I know I told it I didn't want it here, but that is just heartbreaking…" He didn't sound heartbroken at all.

Reborn was studying Mukuro, toe to head. He either didn't like what he saw or his life had changed so much in the time Tsuna hadn't seen him that he speculated everything he liked as if he were about to kill it. "And you are…?"

"Mukuro Rokudo, father of _T.S. Happily Ever After_, Tsunayoshi's lover, and killer of any plant who thinks they can come into my home." He smirked. "And who are _you_?"

"Reborn. I can kill plants like you."

Tsuna's eyes were the size of platters.

"Yes, I know. I had to talk to a few of your friends first. And use coercion. How did you tell that plant to die?" Reborn directed his question at Mukuro.

"We plants have a language," he explained simply, swaying a hand as if in 'it doesn't really matter'. "Why are you here?" One arm circled Tsuna's chest and pulled him tightly against the extraterrestrial. Mukuro curled in such a way around him that made it obvious he was putting distance between the brunette and the body guard.

"Do I need a reason to see my former student?"

"Oya~ I don't know… yes?"

"I spend nearly a week to straighten out this transfer and I am being questioned by a bundle of roots?"

"This 'bundle of roots' can kick your ass any day of the week."

"I would like to see you try, herb-boy."

"BOTH OF YOU, STOP IT!" Tsuna startled himself at his own outburst. He blinked into the sudden silence, swallowing thickly as two pairs of eyes focused on him. "I – eerrr… umm… You made the plant Kyoko gave kill itself!" Tsuna accused his lover. "And you! You… Where the hell have you been?" He tried to glare at his former teacher, but he had the feeling he looked more like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Don't take that tone with me." But there was a hint of respect in Reborn's suddenly softened features. "I've been in Italy."

"No shit!" He clapped his hands over his mouth. Force of habit. He didn't know anyone who yelled at Reborn and got away with it.

"I think what my Tsunayoshi wants to know is why you haven't been _here_." Mukuro grinned, visibly pleased with his one and only.

"Was I obligated to stay here and baby you?" Reborn spoke to Tsuna. Tsuna had to admit to himself that, no, he hadn't been obligated. But it would have been nice. "I'm here now. And I will be here until I get you into a respectable university."

"_Hiiieee_?"

"_You_ are going to a _university_." Reborn spoke slowly, like he was talking to a mentally disabled person.

"Kufufufu~ why, of course he is. But what do _you_ have to do with that?"

"I'm going to be tutoring him."

"I could do that."

"You can go water yourself while I talk to my student."

"Oya~ I think you need to be reminded of whose house you're in…"

He was still Reborn's student, that was about the only part of the argument that got through to Tsuna. He hadn't been Reborn's student for a very long time… Was it strange that he felt happy? After all, being Reborn's student really hadn't been that great, he had been tortured, mentally, physically, and spiritually by the man. But he felt it, he felt _happy_. Reborn was back, he was on speaking terms with his father, his best friends would never leave him, Mukuro was with him…

He was _happy_.

"Tsunayoshi?" Mukuro was looking down at the brunette in his arms who was grinning, eyes warm. He doubted very much that Tsuna had heard much of what was being said around him.

"I can't believe I'm going to say this, but… It's good to see you again, Reborn." He reached out, positively _glowing_, a hand for the Italian.

There was a small moment where Reborn considered him, black eyes narrowed. And then he accepted the handshake. "You won't be saying that for long, Stupid-Tsuna." His grin could have made sharks retreat.

Mukuro wrapped his arms a little tighter around his lover. "You're not staying in the house."

But no one was listening to him. Not with Reborn breaking every bone in Tsuna's hand.

_Author's Note: Eve O. Reina wanted a marshmallow bloom. AKA, she wanted a plant Byakuran. Byakuran actually means 'white orchid'. Clever, isn't it? Byakuran might have kicked Mukuro's ass in the anime and manga, but, in my story, Mukuro talked Byakuran into suicide. HAH._


	23. The End

Death was strange at first. Lambo hadn't been able to understand it. As a matter of fact, he hadn't even _known_ of it.

He had woken up, after his fatal accident, which, at the time, he had completely forgotten about, and had been in the middle of a hallway. On all sides were doors, all sorts of different doors that he had walked through in life at one point or another.

And, behind the doors, were all the people he had loved in life around him. Reborn, big brother, Papa, Mama, big brother's stupid friend, Yamamoto, Kyoko, Kyoko's brother… they were all there. Of course, it had been weird in the beginning, how they all acted out his past memories. One past memory for each door. But they were always his happiest memories, so who cared?

He got used to it.

But then, like any five-year old… he got bored with it. He watched all of his most joyous moments pass him by, his grin slowly fading away… because he just somehow _knew_.

He was surrounded by all the people he loved and who loved him… but he wasn't _actually_ surrounded by all the people he loved and who loved him. Somehow, to him, that made sense.

He had mumbled nonsense to himself and cried loudly and long as he paced the seemingly endless hallway his new existence seemed to revolve around. After awhile, he had started running. The corridor never stopped. The doors became stranger and stranger, made in shapes and textures that he had never witnessed before.

Whimpering, he opened one at random.

It took him long minutes to understand what he was looking at.

The street was bright from the sun's light, steam rising off the cement. Despite the obvious heat, Lambo felt nothing. There was a breeze, he could see it blowing through foliage and peoples' hair. But it didn't touch him. He felt… he felt… _strange_. Like he wasn't even breathing. Or _alive_.

He ran right back through the door and hid in the hallway. Because, TOLERATE, he suddenly knew the truth.

He was _dead_. He was dead! He was _DEAD_! And then he was screaming and begging, clutching at his puffy afro, because he was _remembering_.

He had been with Papa and Reborn… the market… the car… the gun! He clung to himself and shivered. He swore he could feel the bullets puncturing his flesh, stealing his life away. But he was only five years old! … Right? He was only five years old… He was only five years old, five year olds didn't die! They couldn't. _He_ couldn't…

He ran down the corridor, in the direction he had come from, and then slid to a stop in front of a door that hadn't been there before. Or maybe it had been, but he hadn't been looking for it. Or hadn't even known it existed. It was there now, though. And it was blindingly _black_, like looking into _nothingness_. It was too much to look at against the cow-print wallpaper around it.

He twisted the handle slowly, black-and-white glove circling the golden door knob. He felt cold as the door creaked ominously open.

On the other side… his death. And it was terrifying to watch, yet he couldn't look away. He saw the horror in his Papa's face, the slight disbelief in Reborn's expression. He saw the people who killed him, the people who had been killed with him. He even saw what gun shot him down.

He was numb as he stumbled back through the door. He went safely back to his favorite memories. Like the times with the kitten in the hole of his big brother's room. Like his Papa and Mama snuggling him in bed. Or like when big brother took him out for ice cream or octopus balls. The good times. He wanted to forget the bad times.

What both relieved and terrified him was that he _did_ begin to forget. And thus began a pattern.

He would become bored and run up the hallway, only to end up in some memory that could never have been created because he hadn't lived for it. He would realize that he was dead and then he would run down the hallway, only to meet the black door. Once he witnessed his death, he would escape to his happy memories. Repeat. This went on and on and on… over and over again.

And then the time came where he was bored again and up the corridor once more. He opened a random door and what was on the other side… it was…

He couldn't be bothered to remember that he was dead. It was that bad.

Because there was his big brother, sitting next to a grave with a bottle of pills in one shivering hand, his wrists bleeding. His eyes were glazed over and he was leaning against the tombstone, lips and fingertips blue.

Lambo had been so terrified… and then he had looked at the words sketched into the stone. His own name. His _own name_… And his big brother was dying next to his buried body.

He had never run away so fast in his life. He had gone from one door to the one across from it.

His Papa was in Italy, staring blankly at a bottle of wine.

He ran from that too. In the door next to it, Reborn was shooting someone in the face. That didn't scare Lambo so much as the dead sheen to his raven eyes.

And across from that, his Mama was in the kitchen, humming to herself, making dinner for children who wouldn't be coming home.

He didn't go back to his happy memories. How could he? He walked back to the black door, in unknowing resignation, and stepped into his last living moment.

He looked back down the hall once when at last his death was over, tears overflowing and tiny body trembling. He _wanted_ to go back… so bad… He wanted to be safe and happy! But… but… but, TOLERATE. His family needed him.

He walked as far as he could into unlived territory, deep into existence. When he opened the nearest door, it was fifty years later. And there was his and his Mama's grave. His brother's was nowhere to be found. So he walked out of that door and into another.

There was a huge building, walls cracked and windows shattered, overcome by crawly plants, to his one side. _T.S. Happily Ever After_ was written on its one face. And there was a cabin nearby. It was in minimally better condition. Walking around it, there was a man in the backyard, standing into a patch of ground where a garden of big white blooms sprouted. The man had long hair, silvery white, and duo-colored eyes, one red and the other blue. He was wearing all white.

Lambo trotted up to him and stared at the garden with the strange person. The man didn't acknowledge him. Lambo wasn't sure why. They stared and stared and stared… for hours.

It was when the sun finally fell and the moon was high that realization dawned on the child. His big brother was buried there. His big brother, who had died decades ago, was in the backyard of someone Lambo didn't even know.

They stayed there for awhile longer, only because Lambo hadn't been tired for a very long time and he suddenly had nothing to be bored about. He stood there, for an immeasurable amount of time, and so did the stranger. And he cried. Not the stranger, but Lambo. Days came and went. Neither shifted an inch. After the third sunrise, Lambo was just standing there because he wanted to know how long the other guy was going to stand there.

One night, it began to rain. Lambo looked down. The stranger was literally rooted to the soggy ground.

Lambo walked away. He wanted to cry, but it just wasn't in him anymore.

He saw big brother's stupid friend and Yamamoto in a nearby room, about 10 years after his death. The apartment was dark and small. Gokudera was passed out on a small bed, skin sunken in and paler than usual. Bruises were on his inner elbows. Yamamoto was sitting at his side in a rickety chair, looking forlorn and haunted.

Lambo left soon thereafter.

The more and more he went through the future he didn't live to see, the wiser he became. He stopped crying after some decades of snooping. He stopped thinking like a five year old. He _had_ to fix this… because this was his fault, right?

He went back. Soon, it was only about four years after his death. And he walked through a door. He fully planned to change the future, completely determined to talk to his family. He was going in there and he was going to _communicate_ with them. He wasn't sure how, but… he somehow felt that he wouldn't have to worry about that. He would just have to _want_ to do it. And then, maybe like everything else with the doors, it would happen.

He wanted to see his dad. He wanted to talk to him, to get him to go home before his big brother hurt himself. He _needed_ to comfort his Papa.

Something happened as he stepped over the doorjamb. There was a bright light, like looking into a fire for a moment. When the flames flickered away, he felt… different. He felt taller… he felt his skin prickle and his head tickled. He looked down at himself and, wow…

He was nine years old. Wouldn't he have been nine years old had he lived? Yeah, he was older now… He wasn't sure why.

But his Papa was on the couch, staring down a bottle of alcohol. Yet, at Lambo's entrance, his dad snapped to his feet, scanning the room with a glare. When his eyes settled on the child, there was little recognition… at first.

And then his eyes bugged, something seeming to click. He began to cry.

Lambo sat in his lap and waited it out with his own tears, murmuring things he didn't understand but seemed to comfort his Papa anyway. Finally, when the night was soothed over, he found his voice.

"_Papa, go home! Go home, Papa! We need you… your boys need you."_

And he had left. After shutting the door behind him, again five years old, he felt something… something _numbing_. He opened the door he had just exited – and there was just a wall. The same cow-print wall. The moment he shut the door, the panel of wood disappeared into the corridor.

He couldn't go back. And, for one reason or another, he was at peace with that. Maybe that was why the room wasn't there any more.

He wandered the hallways. And the rooms. Good things were happening. His Papa and big brother were able to forgive themselves, together. And, just because of that, his big brother lived.

It took exploring his big brother's life between the time of his death and his big brother's suicide to understand what was going on. His big brother had just been told to die by their Mama, abandoned by the duo-colored eyes person, and was the center of the sometime lenient, other times suffocating attention of his friends. None of them could give him what their Papa could.

And that was ultimately what stopped his big brother from killing himself. They only began to understand how little at fault they were after talking with each other.

Lambo was insanely proud that he had been the cause of that. He really wished he could boast about it, but… who could he boast about it to?

He traveled from there to other times and places.

Time and places went by fairly quick.

And then he decided he wanted to talk to his brother. He found the nearest door, its shape and color sky-like somehow, and stepped through. There was a bright green and yellow light, but he didn't feel a tingling or tickling. He didn't change.

He blinked at the large crater he found himself the center of. And then his big brother was there.

They spent the night together. They talked and cried together. And then his big brother slept. Lambo just held on and refused to let go because, well, he was _happy_. Happier than his past memories had ever made him.

But he had to leave eventually. There were other things he had to do. Because, well, he wasn't a kid anymore. He was older than he looked, had witnessed things far beyond his own time. He was small, but he was wise. And the wise were never done. Or… something like that… right?

TOLERATE. He _was_ right.

Acting on his promise, he went almost instantly to the next door as soon the one behind him sealed shut, never again to be entered. There was a vivid illumination. The tickling and tingling was intense, almost painful. Breathlessness attacked him as he stepped over the sill.

And then he was walking into a tavern. He saw Reborn at the furthest end and felt his entire being flood with love five year old children couldn't understand. But he wasn't five years old, he noticed as he looked down at himself. He was fifteen.

Was it just him, or was it that he appeared to his loved ones in the strangest forms? Why fifteen? Then again, why nine to his Papa? Why five to his big brother?

He kissed Reborn. It felt amazing and unnerving all at once.

He had cried when he had had to leave. And even harder when the door shut behind him.

He cried for a long time.

When he drew himself out of his pit of depression, knowing that he was in love and was unable to experience love, he walked through a door. He didn't know what he would find on the other side. He didn't have anything particular in mind.

It was beautiful. It was united.

Yamamoto and Gokudera (and he had to wonder when he started calling his big brother's stupid friend by his name) were at one end of the sushi bar, closer than simple friends would sit, fingers interwoven between their laps as if they didn't want anyone to know they were holding hands. Yamamoto's father was serving Reborn at the corners tool, the bodyguard respectful to the elder man. Kyoko and Haru were at the opposite end, giggling together. There were two teenage boys that Lambo only vaguely remembered from the other rooms, Shoichi and Spanner, he believed, sitting between the girls and Reborn, openly intimate as the blonde fed the redhead who was blushing furiously. Ryohei completed the row, between Kyoko and Spanner.

And, between Reborn and Gokudera, his big brother had fallen asleep with his head on Mukuro's shoulder.

Peace, peaceful, _blissful_.

With a small smile, he backed out of the room. The door shut and then whispered into nonexistence.

HAH HAH. He did good, didn't he? He did all of that! He was so proud.

For a moment, he felt like he was five years old again.

He smiled as he spun around on the heel of his one toe and came face-to-face with another door. He liked this door. It was his favorite color of green, like tart grapes!

Without hesitation, he opened it.

On the other side… light.

_Maek a wIsh, bIg brother!_

~8~ The End ~8~

_Author's Note: Why Lambo couldn't save Mama – Ever heard the saying 'blinded by her own grief'? At least Reborn, Iemitsu, and Tsuna were dealing with the loss. Nana wasn't. _


End file.
